The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style_10

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The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style_10446 typeslangy phrases like “reading-type mate- set up in type”) or the metallic blocksrial” in lieu of type of reading material. producing them in traditional printing. Type can serve as an adjective when it2. TYPE and KIND; other meanings pertains to printing, as in type style and Used strictly, type fits a clearly defined type faces, or when it is united with agroup (“Citrine is a type of quartz”) technical term, as in Type AB blood. Aswhile kind or sort has more general ap- a verb, type (present participle typing)plication. (“That is the kind of weather I can mean to operate a typewriter orlike.” / “She is the sort of person who computer keyboard (“She types eightygets along with everyone.”) Strict users words a minute”) or to classify (“Theyappear to be in the minority. typed him as a vagrant”). The noun type can also denote printed See also KIND OF.characters (“The manuscript has been UULTIMATUM. An ultimatum is not preclude its use. However, the officials’just any demand. This noun, along with proposition carried no threat of forcefulthe adjective ultimate, stems from the action and was not final. The next sen-Medieval Latin ultimatus, meaning final. tence says, “But discussions that beganAn ultimatum is the ultimate demand or last week produced a less severe solutionproposition or statement of terms pre- yesterday.” So no “ultimatum” was is-sented by the government of one coun- sued, even stretching the word to thetry to the government of another bursting point.country before launching war or using The South Korean government issuedforce. The threat of hostilities is ex- a statement asking the United States topressed or implied in the statement. Ulti- clarify news reports of official spying onmatum is too important a word to be the Korean president. A story about thetreated in the casual way it often is. statement starts out with a contradic- “Iran issued an ultimatum to tion: “The State Department yesterdayBritain,” a newscaster announced on rejected another South Korean ultima-television. Iran’s demand, that Britain tum, the second in two days.” Asideban a book, was backed by the threat of from the Koreans’ obvious reluctance tosevered relations but not hostilities. wage war on the United States, the factTherefore calling it an “ultimatum” is is that they made two successive de-not a precise use of the word. At least mands, so the first cannot be trulythe demand had an element of finality. recorded as an “ultimatum.”Not so in the next instance, reported in a A front-page headline: “Vatican Is-newspaper article: sues an Ultimatum. . . . ” According to the story, the Vatican’s envoy to Panama “delivered an ultimatum” to General When city officials discovered that Manual Noriega, the Panamanian [an unauthorized street clock] last leader, during the U.S. invasion: His month, they issued an ultimatum to sanctuary at the embassy would expire. the restaurant’s owners. If you want What the envoy delivered was more like permission to erect the clock . . . you an eviction notice. The idea of the small- must first remove it. est state in the world threatening mili- tary violence is ludicrous.There “ultimatum” is evidently sup- UNDESCRIBABLE. Seeposed to be humorous, so its irrelevance INDE-to international relations does not alone SCRIBABLE, UNDESCRIBABLE. undescribable 447448 unemployed, unemploymentUNEMPLOYED, UNEMPLOY- the word appeared twice in a news storyMENT. See JOBLESS. about a tribute to a baseball player: [Jackie Robinson] lived a career soUNEXPRESSIBLE. See Verbal un- compelling and unique its retellingmentionables. once again riveted. . . . The obvious presence of such people of color un-UNINTERESTED. See DISINTER- derscored the unique relationsh ...