ice ageice-cream icon, iconic
in danger of losing all meaning after more than 1,000 appearances in the Guardian in one year, employed to describe anything vaguely memorable or well-known - from Weetabix, Dr Martens boots and the Ferrero Rocher TV ads to Jimi Hendrix's final gigs, a plinth in Trafalgar Square and drains ID cards ie
no full points or commas, ie like this if not
can be ambiguous: does "it is the most beautiful castle in France, if not the whole of Europe" mean "and maybe in the whole of Europe" or "but not in the whole of Europe"? IJ
If a Dutch word starts with IJ then both letters are always capped (there is a waterway called the IJ so a lot of places have IJ in their name, eg IJsselmeer, IJmuiden, etc) illegitimate
Do not use to refer to children born outside marriage (unless in a historical context, eg "the illegitimate son of Charles the Good") iMac, iPod, iTunes Imax
cinemas immaculate conception
nothing to do with the birth of Jesus: it is the doctrine that Mary herself was conceived by her mother (St Anne) without the stain of original sin. The virgin birth is the doctrine of Christ's birth without a human father. This is one of our most frequent errors immigrate
to arrive in a country; emigrate to leave one Immigration and Nationality Directorate
may be called "the immigration service" immune to
not immune from impact
a noun, not a verb Imperial College London
(no commas) is no longer part of the University of London impinge, impinging
impostor
not imposter impracticable
impossible, it cannot be done impractical
possible in theory but not workable at the moment impressionism, impressionist in
Avoid such headline constructions as "Marconi chief in board clearout", which not only lacks a verb but is also ambiguous (is the chief clearing out the board or being cleared out with them?) in or on?
in the team not the US version "on the team"
in Oxford Street etc not "on Oxford Street" inadmissible
not -able inchoate
just beginning or undeveloped, not chaotic or disorderly incidence
amount, eg a high incidence of mistakes; incident event incident
Be wary of this word, another - "attack" or "clash", for example - will often stand better in its place; within a couple of years of the massacre in Tiananmen Square the Chinese government was referring to it as an "incident" or even "alleged incident" income support income tax Independent Police Complaints Commission
replaced the Police Complaints Authority index
plural indexes, except for scientific and economic indices Indian placenames
the former Bombay is now known as Mumbai, Madras is now Chennai, Calcutta is now Kolkata and Bangalore is now Bengalooru indie
music, films, etc; Indy short for the Independent, a newspaper indispensable
not indispensible Industrial Revolution industrial tribunals
have not existed since 1998, when they became employment tribunals; they still appear in the pages of the paper with embarrassing frequency despite regular corrections from the readers' editor infer/imply
to infer is to deduce something from evidence; to imply is to hint at something (and wait for someone to infer it) infinite
means without limit, not very large
infinitives, split
"The English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and distinguish. Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority, and are happy folk, to be envied"
HW Fowler, Modern English Usage, 1926 It is perfectly acceptable to sensibly split infinitives, though to always do so may sound inelegant — so use common sense. And remember George Bernard Shaw's reaction after an editor tinkered with his infinitives: "I don't care if he is made to go quickly, or to quickly go — but go he must!"
inflammable
means the same as flammable, which we prefer; the negative is non-flammable initials
no spaces or points, whether businesses or individuals eg WH Smith, PCR Tufnell Inland Revenue
now part of Revenue & Customs inner city
noun two words, adjective hyphenated: inner-city blues made Marvin Gaye wanna holler innocent civilians
the adjective is superfluous innocuous innuendo
plural innuendoes inoculate
not innoculate inpatient, outpatient inquiry
not enquiry inshallah
means "God willing" in Arabic insignia
are plural insisted
overused, especially in political stories; said should normally suffice install, instalment instil, instilled, instilling Institute for Fiscal Studies Institute for Public Policy Research insure
against risk; ensure life; make certain insurgency, insurgents
see terrorism, terrorists International Atomic Energy Agency
not "authority"; its director general is Mohamed ElBaradei; abbreviate to IAEA international date line interned
imprisoned; interred buried (yes, we have got them confused) internet, net, website, web, world wide web Interpol
International Criminal Police Organisation (and a New York band) InterRail intifada
into or in to?
one word if you go into a room, but two words in such sentences as I called in to complain, I listened in to their conversation and I went in to see my friend; on to two words in-tray, out-tray introducing people
Never use the following construction to introduce a speaker or a subject: "Foreign secretary David Miliband said ... " Use the definite article and commas to separate the job from the name, like this: "David Miliband, the foreign secretary ... " (there is only one person with this specific post).
Commas are not used if the description is more general and could apply to more than one person, like this: "The health minister Dawn Primarolo said ... " (there are several health ministers); or like this: "The former paymaster general Dawn Primarolo said ... " (there have been many).
Another example: "Jonathan Glancey, the Guardian's architecture critic, gave his verdict ... " is correct; "The architecture critic Jonathan Glancey gave his verdict ... " is fine as well
Inuit
not Eskimos; an individual is an Inuk invalid
means not valid or of no worth; do not use to refer to disabled or ill people invariable, invariably
unchanging; often used wrongly to mean hardly ever changing iPod
only when you are sure it is an Apple iPod; the generic term is MP3 player or digital audio player Iraqi placenames
use these spellings for Iraq's biggest cities and towns: Amara, Baiji, Baghdad, Baquba, Basra, Diwaniya, Dohuk, Falluja, Haditha, Hilla, Irbil, Kerbala, Kirkuk, Kut, Mosul, Najaf, Nassiriya, Ramadi, Rutba, Samarra, Samawa, Sulaimaniya, Tikrit (note that these transliterations do away with al- prefixes and the final H) Ireland, Irish Republic
not Eire or "Southern Ireland" iridescent
not irridescent Irish Travellers
capped, as they are recognised as a distinct ethnic group under race relations legislation iron age, iron curtain ironclad, ironfounder, ironmonger, ironworks
ironic, ironically
Do not use when what you mean is strange, coincidental, paradoxical or amusing (if you mean them say so, or leave it up to the reader to decide). There are times when ironic is right but too often it is misused, as in this typical example from the paper: "Santini's Tottenham won 2-0 at Nottingham Forest, ironic really with the north London club having a big interest in Forest's Republic of Ireland midfielder Andy Reid ..." (not that sport are the only, or biggest, offenders).
As Kingsley Amis put it: "The slightest and most banal coincidence or point of resemblance, or even just-perceptible absence of one, unworthy of a single grunt of interest, gets called 'ironical'."
The idiotic "post-ironic", which Amis would be glad he did not live to see, is banned
Isa
individual savings account, but no need to spell it out -ise
not -ize at end of word, eg maximise, synthesise (exception: capsize) Islam
(means "submission to the will of God")Muslims should never be referred to as "Mohammedans", as 19th-century writers did. It causes serious offence because they worship God, not the prophet Muhammad.
"Allah" is Arabic for "God". Both words refer to the same concept: there is no major difference between God in the Old Testament and Allah in Islam. Therefore it makes sense to talk about "God" in an Islamic context and to use "Allah" in quotations or for literary effect.
The holy book of Islam is the Qur'an (not Koran) Islamist
an advocate or supporter of Islamic fundamentalism; the likes of Osama bin Laden and his followers should be described as Islamist terrorists rather than Islamic terrorists Islamophobia issue
not a synonym for problem ("she has stylebook issues") italics
Use roman for titles of books, films etc; the only exception is the Review, which by special dispensation is allowed to ignore the generally sound advice of George Bernard Shaw:
"1 I was reading The Merchant of Venice.
2 I was reading 'The Merchant of Venice'.
3 I was reading The Merchant of Venice.
The man who cannot see that No 1 is the best looking, as well as the sufficient and sensible form, should print or write nothing but advertisements for lost dogs or ironmongers' catalogues: literature is not for him to meddle with."
Use italics for foreign words and phrases (with roman translation in brackets); poetry see poetry; scientific names see scientific names it's
shortened form of it is or it has: it's a big dog; it's been ages since I saw her its
possessive form of it: the dog is eating its bone ITV Digital
formerly ONdigital ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 Ivory Coast
not "the Ivory Coast" or Cöte D'Ivoire; its nationals are Ivorians Ivy League universities
Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth College, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Yale
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