Bryson•s Dictionary for Writers and Editors

Nascar / n.b. (or NB) � 237
Nascar. National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
NASDAQ. National Association of Securities Dealers Automated
Quotations; stock market specializing in technology stocks.
Nash (or Nashe), Thomas. (1567–1601) English dramatist.
National Governors’ Association. (Apos.)
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. Note Institutes plural.
It is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NATO. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As of 2007, the member
countries were Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United
Kingdom, United States.
Natty Bumppo. Main character in James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking
Tales.
Naugahyde is a trademark.
naught, nought. Although dictionaries increasingly treat the words
as interchangeable, traditionally the first means nothing (as in
“His efforts came to naught”), while the second is used to signify
the figure zero. The game is noughts and crosses (known in
the United States as tic-tac-toe).
nauseous is an adjective describing something that causes nausea
(“a nauseous substance”). To feel sick is to be nauseated.
Navajo/Navaho. The first is generally preferred, the second accepted.
naval, navel. The first pertains to a navy and its possessions or operations;
the second to belly buttons and like-shaped objects. The
oranges are navel.
navigable.
Nazism. Not -ii-.
n.b. (or NB). Abbreviation of nota bene (Lat.), “note carefully.” Note
that n.b. is spelled with periods and NB without.