Bryson•s Dictionary for Writers and Editors

Jell-O. Venerable dessert.
Jell-O / jibe � 185
Jemaah Islamiah. Islamist group responsible for several bombings in
Indonesia.
je ne sais pas. (Fr.) “I don’t know.”
je ne sais quoi. (Fr.) “I don’t know what”; applied to the indescribable.
Jenkins’ Ear, War of. (1739–48) War between Britain and Spain over
trade with South America, ostensibly provoked by an incident in
which Spanish sailors boarded a British vessel in the Caribbean
and cut off the ear of the captain, Robert Jenkins, but this happened
seven years before the hostilities began.
jeopardy, jeopardize.
jeremiad. Elaborate lamentation.
jeroboam. Wine bottle that contains four ordinary wine bottles’
worth of wine.
jerry-built, jury-rigged. Occasionally confused. The first applies to things
that are built cheaply and sloppily without regard to quality. The
second describes things made in haste, with whatever materials
are at hand, as a temporary or emergency measure.
Jervaulx Abbey, England; pronounced jer-vo'.
jetsam, flotsam. Jetsam applies to goods that have been thrown overboard
(jettisoned) at sea; flotsam describes goods that have
floated free from wreckage. Historically flotsam went to the
Crown and jetsam to the lord of the manor on whose land it
washed up.
Jeu de Paume, Galerie Nationale du, Paris.
jeune fille. (Fr.) A girl.
jew’s harp. (No caps.)
Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer. (1927–) German-born British novelist and
screenwriter.
jibe means to be in agreement and is also a nautical term for the act
of changing course. See also gibe.