Lars Eighner's Homepage Writers' Workshop Glossary: C

C

These words are so alike, it may be worthwhile to look them up whenever one is wanted. The only noun is callus. The adjectives and adverbs are all spelled with an o: callous, calloused, callously, and callousness. The verb callus is rare outside of medicine, biology, and botany and refers to biological processes by which calluses are formed. In general literature, the much older verb is callous, even when it means "causing calluses to form." Some authorities would like "callus" to be the only verb that applies to hardening and thickening of literal, living tissue and "callous" to be the verb used only in figurative (that is, emotional) senses. Unfortunately for them, educated writers have not warmed up to the verb callus in general literature.

cant /kAnt/ noun

the special language of particular subculture, profession, sect, or faction. Because of its close etymological connection with chant, cant suggests words, phrases, slogans, or arguments repeated by rote without understanding or particular conviction. See: jargon.

'No, I don't see it! I don't give tuppence for your love, nor for the man you love. I don't believe in that sort of cant.' Lady Chatterley's Lover —D. H. Lawrence · How can people tolerate all that vulgar, reeking, gushing commercial cant everywhere? 'It's vulgar enough and mad enough and obscene enough if you like. But it's not cant. I have travelled amongst these wild tribes, for years on end; and I tell you emphatically it is not cant. Tales of the Long Bow —G. K. Chesterton · Yet some weak and worldly Catholics did use this cant in defence of Capitalism, St. Thomas Aquinas —G. K. Chesterton · Geake denounced this cant about Letting Nature Alone. Arrowsmith —Sinclair Lewis · Ben, however, was not to be intimidated by their cant, or deceived by their twaddle. Look Homeward, Angel —Thomas Wolfe · I object to clerical cant on the subject; and I note that an eminent theological authority, 'Billy' Sunday, appears to agree with me; The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition —Upton Sinclair · But enthusiasm, once cold, can never be warmed over into anything better than cant, Abraham Lincoln —James Russell Lowell · He is forgetting the slang, and the beggar's cant, and the marks, and the signs, and the drift of the undercurrents, The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition —Rudyard Kipling · Replied the haughty surgeon; 'To use your cant, I don't play ROLES Utility that verge on. Fifty Bab Ballads —W.S. Gilbert · The world is filled with historical fiction; it is the cant and the sham of the hour.—Bah! It is a lie! It is a lie! It is silly cant—it is brutal stupidity! What, you try to tell me that it is in contest with these degradations—these The Journal of Arthur Stirling: 'The Valley of the Shadow' —Upton Sinclair · The cant< of any profession. —Dryden · 'Peace, thou vile cozener, with thy gipsy cant!' replied Tressilian scornfully, Kenilworth —Walter Scott · or perhaps might have caught from Mrs. Norris's lips the cant of its being a very happy thing and a great blessing to their poor Mansfield Park —Jane Austen · I often read novels — It is really very well for a novel.' Such is the common cant. 'And what are you reading, Miss — ?' 'Oh! It is only a novel!' replies the young lady, Northanger Abbey —Jane Austen · they were without conversation, except the exchange of an occasional cant phrase. They even moved artificially, for their bodies, in compliance with the caprice of the day, had been kitchen and the leakage of the tap-room. These all look up to him as to an oracle, treasure up his cant phrases, echo his opinions about horses and other topics of jockey lore, and, above all, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. —Washington Irving · was more striking; and her face was so lovely, that when in the common cant of praise, she was called a beautiful girl, truth was less violently outraged than usually happens. Sense and Sensibility —Jane Austen · 'The cant of party, school, and sect,Provoked at times his honest scorn, The Complete Works of John Greenleaf Whittier —John Greenleaf Whittier · there joined by Mr. Westmacott and Sir Rowland Blake. They opened the conversation with certain cant phrases very clearly intended as passwords. Thus: the prisoners said to the messenger, as they seated Mistress Wilding —Rafael Sabatini · Before the war the popular so-called socialist press reeked with the cant of rebellion, the cant of any sort of rebellion. 'I'm a rebel,' was the silly boast of the young disciple. War and the Future —H. G. Wells · The paper was stuffed with religious and anti-slavery cant, Wild Wales —George Borrow · MILLA. Ay, as wife, spouse, my dear, joy, jewel, love, sweet-heart, and the rest of that nauseous cant, in which men and their wives are so fulsomely familiar—I shall never bear that. Good Mirabell, The Way of the World —William Congreve · He must know all the cant-phrases, the cant-references. Yet Again —Max Beerbohm · Red Italian; in Italy, 'Gergo'; whilst in England it is known by many names; for example, 'cant, slang, thieves' Latin,' etc. The Zincali - An Account of the Gypsies of Spain —George Borrow

canvas / canvass [mistaken]

The spelling of these words has been confused so frequently that some authorities now allow either spelling in either sense. These words (related to cannibis since the fabric was once made of hemp) were once the same, and it seems likely that they will become so again. The fabric and the verb involving covering something with the fabric is canvas. Surveying for opinions or votes and reports of such surveys is canvass. The word comes via metaphor from covering with a canvas which rather undermines the position of those who wish to perpetuate the difference in spelling.

`ca·per See: crime

capital / capitol noun or adjective [mistaken]

Only the building which is the seat of a goverment is a capitol. Every other sense, including the city containing the capitol, is spelled capital.

`card `page /'kArd 'peIdZ/ noun

1 : (MS) Page in a manuscript listing other books by the author.
2 : (book) This page in the finished book.

clench / clinch / cinch / chinch [mistaken]

In some senses clinch and clench are synonymous. Clench is the word usually used with teeth or fists, and clinch is used when referring to a boxer's embrace, and to fastening by bending the protruding end of a nail or brad. A cinch is a device used on a pack animal and also is the word for something believed to be certain or surefire. All three of the above might be used to refer to a tight grip or grasp, and the choice is mostly a matter of the association one desires to evoke. A chinch is a bedbug.

complement / compliment [mistaken]

The mnemonic is "A complEment is that which complEtes," (that is, the word for something that completes is spelled with an E, like its root word "complete"). This should settle the issue when the confusion of these words is merely a matter of spelling. A complement then is the complete number of personel for a ship or the complete number of anything required or allocated for a purpose, an angle which will with a given angle complete a right angle, a grammatical part that completes some kinds of statements, and so forth. Compliment comes from an entirely different root meaning "courtesy," and so is the word for expressions of regard, esteem, appreciation, praise, and so forth. There should be no reason to confuse these nouns. However, a few senses of the adjectives may be confusing. Complimentary items are those given without charge. Since few designers give away handbags, a handbag is likely to be complementary (that is, meant to go with and thus complete an outfit). Complementary colors complete the spectrum (with their complements) so that in proper proportion add up to white or gray or subtract to black, and although complementary colors often go well together, the meaning is not that they are flattering or complimentary.

compose / comprise [disputed]

Although the evidence of actual usage is not so clear, controversy can be avoided if these words are used in accord with this rule: the parts compose the whole and the whole comprises the parts. The controversial usage occurs when comprise is used in place of compose, for hardly anyone seems tempted to do the reverse.

`con·tents /'kAntEnts/ noun

1 : (MS) Page or pages in a manuscript listing the chapters or other subdivision of the work. This page should be included even if chapters are not titled. Page numbers are not typed in the manuscript table of contents, because it cannot be known where the pages will break in the finished book. Manuscript page numbers are entered in pencil and circled (indicating they should not be set in type) in the left margin.
2 : (book) Such a page in a finished book : table of contents, contents page. The contents page is sometimes omitted in novels, especially if chapters are not titled.

continual / continuous [mistaken]

Continual is the better word for events that recur, such as the beating of a drum, while continuous means uninterrupted, like the wail of a siren.

could / could not care less [disputed]

In the US, "could care less" and "couldn't care less" mean the same thing: that one cares not at all or cares in the least possible degree. The objection to "could care less" is that taken word-by-word it is logically exactly the opposite of what is meant. There are, however, many English idioms that are not logical or are anti-logical. Where "could care less" is common, everyone knows what it means, logic not withstanding. Writers, on the other hand, should be aware that some pendants are passionate in their criticism of "could care less."

`Cou·ri·er /'kRiR/ or /'kUriR/ noun

(MS) Courier was the most popular typewriter face at the close of the typewriter era. Today in several variations it is a nonproportional, serif style similar to the traditional manual typewriter face Pica. Some graphic browsers may display this sentence in Courier or a similar style.

`co·zy or cosy /'koUzi/ noun

(genre) mystery subgenre involving a detective who relies primarily on deduction rather than very detailed physical clues to solve a murder. Generally graphic descriptions of violence or sex and particularly gruesome scenes of the murder or autopsy are avoided and improprieties (aside from the murder) are rather tame. Often the victim was not an especially sympathetic character and the crime was not altogether a tragedy, although the detective may have to solve the crime in order to avoid some more serious, unmitigated misfortune (such as an innocent person being convicted or the murderer striking again, perhaps against some sympathetic character). Usually the culprit is apprehended without an extensive chase or significant violence and the detective will have anticipated any menacing confrontation and will have taken measures to mitigate any threat. In other words, the most distressing aspects of real crime are defanged. Often the detective gathers all the suspects and interested parties together at the end to reveal the culprit and to explain the reason that brought about this result. Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers provided the principal examples of cozies.

`crime /'kraIm/ noun or adjective

(genre) A subgenre of mystery in which the story is the planning and execution of some enormous or elaborate crime, usual with an economic motive. The contemplated crime is usually something over-the-top: robbing Fort Knox, a great train robbery, stealing the take from a Las Vegas counting room, purloining the Crown jewels. Usually the crime story is told from the perspective of the criminals, and when so may begin with the ringleader recruiting the various criminal specialists he needs. Occasionally the story is told from the detective's side as in the Die Hard movies. In either case, much of the story is in the plan as it is revealed in the execution, and the plan is likely to have a number of twists so not all of the conspirators will necessarily know all aspects of the "real" plan. In modern crime stories, someone -- but not necessarily the criminals -- can get away with the booty, especially if the booty came from some criminal (or should be criminal) enterprise to begin with. When the story is humorous, usually involving inept criminals or persons with no criminal experience, a crime story may be known as a caper.