A Dictionary of Cont..

Asia, particularly Uzbeg. The uncapitalized form
iarrar, based on observed or imagined characteristics
of Tartars, means a shrew or vixen, a
savage, intractable person.
Catch a tartar, as an expression for getting
hold of something you can’t control, especially
something which was ardently desired but which
when obtained is found to be extremely unpleasant,
is a cliche. The origin of the term is uncertain,
though its meaning is fairly clear. There
is what seems like a reference to the saying in
Samuel Butler’s Hudibrus (1663), but the first
clear statement of it occurs in Dryden’s The
Kind Keeper ( 1678). Francis Grose in his Classical
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) attributes
the origin to an Irishman who in a battle
against the Turks called out excitedly that he had
“caught a Tartar.” When those on his side called
back “Bring him here,” he shouted “1 can’t; he
won’t let me.” Whether historically true or not,
the story certainly explains the idea of the expression.
taste. This verb may be followed by an adjective
describing the source of the taste, as in it tastes
sour and it tastes good. The use of an adverb
here, as in it tastes well, is not technically correct
and is considered unacceptable by many people.
When taste is used with a personal subject it may
be qualified by an adverb, as in he tasted it
quickly.
tasteful(ly); tasts; tastily. Tasteful is the correct
word for having, displaying, or being in accordance
with good taste. Tasty is permitted in America
but frowned on in England when used in this
sense. In its sense of pleasing to the taste, savory,
appetizing (Freshly baked apple pie makes a
rusry dessert), the word is acceptable in speech.
As tasteful is to be preferred to tasty, so the
adverb tastefully is to be preferred to tastily.
To say, especially of flowers on a table, that
they are tastefully arranged is to employ a worn
commendation.
taught. See teach.
tautology. See redundancy.
taxed to its utmost capacity as a way of saying
that something can hold or do or stand no more,
is trite.
teach. The past tense is taught. The participle is
also taught. This verb may be followed by an
infinitive, as in teach your grandson to shoot a
rifle, or by a that clause, as in they teach that
the world is round. Teach may be followed by
a great many words ending in -ing, such as
reading, writing, swimming, but only when these
words are felt to be names of recognized courses
of study. Teach cannot be followed by the -ing
form of a verb in any other sense. That is, we
may say he taught me to struggle harder but
not he taught me struggling harder. See also
leam.
teamwork; team spirit; the team; on our team;
etc. The flippant, the scornful, the skeptical and
the irreverent are always being reminded that
their jokes may be offensive to those who do not
share their disrespect of many established CUStoms
and values. Similarly however, and far less
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frequently, the solemn, the solid, and the conventional
need to be reminded that the whole world
does not share their outlook and that some of
their expressions may have different connotations
for some of their listeners than they have for
them. Among these must be listed-not invariably,
but more often than they have any idea
of-unctuous cliches regarding tenmwork, the
team, team spirit, our team, and the like, especially
in figurative extensions. One does not have
to be. too cynical to have at least some reservations
about the educational, social, or even moral
value of a great deal of organized athletics. Much
of it is commercial and much is tainted with
downright dishonesty and association with highly
undesirable people. And teamwork is the keynote
of its hucksters, barkers, and shills-a keynote
which some do not find wholly inspiring.
tear. The past tense is tore. The participle is torn.
A participle tore, as in had tore, is heard but is
not acceptable.
technic; technics; technique; technology. Technic
and technics are seldom used. They would seem
mispronunciations or affectations to the ordinary
educated man.
As an adjective, technic is obsolescent for
technical. As a noun, it has been largely replaced
by technique. Technics, a noun, has been replaced
by technique or, when it means the study
or science of an art or of arts in general, especially
of the mechanical or industrial arts, by
technology. Technique is familiar as the description
of method of performance, especially in
artistic work. It is also used slangily in America
to signify social adroitness, “smoothness” (Your
chin is weak,/ You lack technique,/ So what
have you got/ That gets me?). Technology is the
branch of knowledge that deals with the industrial
arts; the sciences of the industrial arts (He
studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
It may also describe the terminology
of an art or science, technical nomenclature.
teeming with; rich in. There are in English three
verbs to teem. One means to produce, to bring
forth, to bear (“What’s the newest grief?” ‘Each
minute teems a new one”), or, intransitively, to
be or become pregnant, to conceive, bear (Zf she
must teem,/ Create her child of spleen, that it
may live/ And be a thwart disnatur’d torment to
her) or to be full, as a pregnant woman, or to
be prolific, stocked to overflowing, abundantly
fertile. Another, a rare meaning, is to be fit for,
to be becoming, to think fit for. The third meaning,
an entirely different word, is to pour, to
empty and, intransitively, to come down in torrents.
And it may be that the meaning of the
third verb has colored the meaning of the tirst.
Teeming with is not so general as rich in. A
stream may be teeming with, that is fertile with
or prolific with or stocked to overflowing with,
salmon and therefore be rich in salmon. Whereas
a museum may be rich in Old Masters but not
teeming with them.
teeth. See tooth.
telecast, televise. When these two words are used
as verbs, telecast is the more limited in meaning.