What is the difference between cant & jargon or assume & presume? What is a fandango? How do you spell supersede? Is it hippy or hippie? These questions really matter to Bill Bryson as they do to anyone who cares about the English language. Originally published as The Penguin Dictionary for Writers & Editors Brysons Dictionary for Writers & Editors has now been completely revised & updated for the twenty-first century by Bill Bryson himself. Here is a very personal selection of spellings & usages covering such head-scratchers as capitalization plurals abbreviations & foreign names & phrases. Bryson also gives us the difference between British & American usages & miscellaneous pieces of essential information you never knew you needed like the names of all the Oxford colleges or the correct spelling of Brobdingnag. An indispensable companion to all those who write work with the written word or who just enjoy getting things right it gives rulings that are both authoritative & commonsense all in Brysons own inimitably goodhumoured way.