Bryson's Dictionary For Writers And Editors (v5.0) (27 page)

Léopoldville.
Former name of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Le Pen, Jean-Marie.
(1928–) French politician, founder of National Front.

leprechaun.
Not
lepra-.

lèse-majesté.
(Fr.) “Wounded majesty” treason or a similar offense or insolence toward anyone to whom deference is due. The spelling is sometimes anglicized to
lese-majesty.

Lesotho.
Small, landlocked African kingdom; formerly called Basutoland. Capital Maseru. The people of Lesotho are known as Basotho (sing. and pl.).

less, fewer.
The simplest rule is to use
less
with singular nouns (
less money, less sugar
) and
fewer
with plural ones (
fewer houses, fewer cars
).

Lesseps, Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de.
(1805–1894) French engineer closely associated with the Suez Canal. On second reference, de Lesseps.

L'Étoile.
Area around Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Letzeburgesch.
German dialect spoken in Luxembourg.

level, mark.
These are often pointlessly employed. “Stock prices once again fell below the 12,000 level” says no more than “…fell below 12,000.”

Leverrier, Urbain Jean Joseph.
(1811–1877) French astronomer.

Lévesque, René.
(1922–1988) Canadian politician, leader of Parti Québécois.

Levi's.
Jeans produced by Levi Strauss.

Lévi-Strauss, Claude.
(1908–) French anthropologist.

Leviticus.
Book of the Old Testament.

Levittown,
New York and Pennsylvania.

Lewis, Meriwether.
(1774–1809) Not
-whether
. The coleader (with William Clark) of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806.

Lewis, Wyndham.
(1884–1957) English writer and artist.

Leyden jar,
but the Dutch town is now usually spelled
Leiden.

Lhasa
for the capital of Tibet,
Lhasa apso
for the breed of dog.

liable, likely, apt, prone.
All four indicate probability, but they carry distinctions worth noting.
Apt
is better reserved for general probabilities (“It is apt to snow in January”) and
likely
for specific ones (“It is likely to snow today”).
Liable
and
prone
are better used to indicate a probability arising as a regrettable consequence: “People who drink too much are prone to heart disease” “If you don't pay your taxes, you are liable to get caught.” A separate but common problem with
likely
is seen in this sentence: “Cable experts say the agreement will likely strengthen the company's position.” Used as an adverb,
likely
needs to be accompanied by one of four helping words:
very,
quite, more,
or
most.
Thus the sentence should say “will very likely strengthen.”

liaison.

libel, slander.
Although nearly all dictionaries define
libel
merely as a statement that defames or damages a person's reputation, it is worth remembering that it must do so unreasonably or inaccurately. It is the wrongness of a contention that makes it libelous, not the harshness or hostility of it. Although a libel usually takes the form of a written utterance, drawings and other visual depictions may also be libelous. In all cases, a libel must be published (the word comes from the Latin
libellus
, meaning “little book”). When defamatory remarks are merely spoken, the term to describe the act is
slander
.

liberté, égalité, fraternité.
(Fr.) “Liberty, equality, fraternity” slogan of the French Revolution.

Liberty, Statue of,
was emplaced in 1886. It is officially known as
Liberty Enlightening the World
. Its designer was Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. Liberty Island was formerly called Bedloes Island.

Libeskind, Daniel.
(1946–) Polish-born American architect.

lichee
(or
litchi
or
lychee
). Chinese tree and its fruit.

Lichfield
for the town and cathedral in Staffordshire, England, and for the photographer
Patrick Lichfield
(1939–2005), who was formally the Earl of Lichfield, Viscount Anson, and Baron Sober-ton.

Lichtenstein, Roy.
(1923–1997) American artist.

lickerish.
Greedy, lascivious.

licorice.

Liebfraumilch.
White Rhine wine; in German it is
Liebfrauenmilch
.

Liechtenstein.
Diminutive Alpine principality; capital Vaduz.

lifelong.
Though the term needn't be taken absolutely literally in most contexts, it should have some sense of at least approximately covering the whole of the subject's existence, so that one might be called a lifelong Yankees fan, but not, say, a lifelong drug addict.

lighted, lit.
Either is correct.
Lighted
, however, is more usual when the word is being used as an adjective (“a lighted torch”).

lightning,
not
lightening
.

light-year.
The distance that light travels through empty space in one year (about 5.88 trillion miles; 9.46 trillion kilometers).

likable.

like, as.
Problems often arise in choosing between
like
and
as
. On the face of it, the rule is simple:
as
and
as if
are always followed by a verb;
like
never is. Therefore you would say, “He plays tennis like an expert” (no verb after
like
) but “He plays tennis as if his life depended on it” (verb
depended
). Except in the most formal writing, however, only a stickler would object to formations such as “She looks just like her mother used to” and “He can't dance like he used to.” There is also one apparent inconsistency in the rule in that
like
may be used when it comes between “feel” and an “-ing” verb: “He felt like walking” “I feel like going abroad this year.”

likelihood.

Lilienthal, Otto.
(1849–1896) German inventor.

Lilliput
(cap.) for the fictional place, but
lilliputian
(no cap.) for something small.

Lilly, Eli.
Not
-ey.
U.S. pharmaceuticals company.

Lilongwe.
Capital of Malawi.

lily,
pl.
lilies.

Limassol,
Cyprus.

Limbourg, Limburg.
The first is a province of Belgium; the second a province of the Netherlands. The cheese is Limburg or Limburger.

limited
means constrained, set within bounds. Unless there is the idea of a limit being imposed, the word is better avoided. It is reasonable enough to say that a special offer is available for a limited time, but to write that “there was a limited demand for tickets” is absurd when what is meant is that fewer customers than had been hoped showed up.

linage, lineage.
The first refers to lines of text; the second to ancestry.

linchpin,
but
lynch law, lynch gang.

Linnaean
for the system of naming plants and animals by genus and species names (e.g.,
Homo sapiens
). Some dictionaries also accept
Linnean
as an alternative spelling. The term comes from the Swedish botanist Carl Linné (1707–1778), who chose to Latinize his name as Carolus Linnaeus. For the rules of application concerning the Linnaean system, see
GENUS
,
SPECIES
.

lion's share
is a cliché. Why not say “most” or “the larger part” or whatever is appropriate?

Lipari Islands.
Group of islands off Sicily, also known as the Aeolian Islands.

Lipchitz, Jacques.
(1891–1973) French sculptor.

Lippmann, Walter.
(1889–1974) American journalist.

liquefy, liquefaction.

liqueur.

lira.
Currency of Turkey; pl.
liras.
It has not been the currency of Italy since 2002, but for historical purposes it may be worth noting that the Italian plural was
lire
.

lissome.

literally
means actually, not figuratively. If you don't wish to be taken literally, don't use
literally
.

literati.
Literary elite; learned people. But
littérateur
for a person of letters.

Livni, Tzipora.
(1958–) Deputy prime minister of Israel (2006–).

Ljubicic, Ivan.
(1979–) Croatian tennis player.

Ljubljana.
Capital of Slovenia; pronounced
loob-lee-yah'
-
na
.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
Village in Wales, on the island of Anglesey, famous for having the longest name in Britain.

Lloyd George, David.
(1863–1945) (No hyphen.) British prime minister (1916–22); but
Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor
(hyphen) for his title as a peer.

Lloyd Webber, Andrew.
(1948–) Now
Lord Lloyd-Webber
(hyphen), British composer of musicals; brother of
Julian Lloyd Webber
(1951–), cellist.

Lloyd's of London
(apos.) for the venerable insurance exchange, but
Lloyds TSB
(no apos.) for the British bank.

Llullaillaco.
Mountain on border of Argentina and Chile.

loath, loathe.
The first is an adjective meaning reluctant; the second, a verb meaning to despise.

loathsome.

LoBiondo, Frank.
(1946–) U.S. representative from New Jersey.

local residents.
Residents generally are local, so in most contexts the first word can be deleted.

loc. cit.,
the abbreviation of
loco citato
(Lat.), means “in the place cited.”

Locke, John.
(1632–1704) English philosopher.

lodestar, lodestone.
These are the preferred spellings, but
loadstar
and
loadstone
are also accepted.

Lódz,
Poland; pronounced
woodj
.

logarithm.

Lomé.
Capital of Togo.

Longchamp,
not
-champs
, for the French racecourse.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth.
(1807–1882) American poet.

Longleat House,
Wiltshire, England.

longueur.
Note
-ueu-
. Boring interval or section of an entertaining work.

Look Homeward, Angel.
Note comma. Novel by Thomas Wolfe (1929).

Lord's Cricket Ground,
London.

Lorenz, Konrad.
(1903–1989) Austrian zoologist.

losable.

Los Alamitos Race Course,
Los Angeles.

Louis Roederer champagne.

Louis Vuitton.
French luxury goods company.

Lourenço Marques.
Former name of Maputo, capital of Mozambique.

Louvain.
French and English spelling of Belgian university town known as Leuven in Flemish.

louver.
A type of slatted cover.

Love's Labour's Lost.
Comedy by Shakespeare. There may also have been a companion play, now lost, called
Love's Labour's Won.

LPG.
Liquefied petroleum gas.

luau.
Hawaiian feast.

lubricous
is generally the preferred spelling for the word meaning slippery or lewd, but most dictionaries also accept
lubricious.

Luddite.
A worker opposed to technological change.

Ludwigshafen,
Germany.

Lufthansa.
German national airline.

Luftwaffe.
German air force.

luge.
Type of sled.

luminesce, luminescence. lumpenproletariat.
Bottom of the working class.

Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of.
In French, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg; the capital is also Luxembourg (or Luxembourg City, for clarity).

Luxemburg, Rosa.
(1871–1919) Political activist.

lux mundi.
(Lat.) “Light of the world.”

luxuriant, luxurious.
The words are not interchangeable, though the meanings sometimes overlap.
Luxuriant
indicates profusion (“luxuriant hair”).
Luxurious
means sumptuous and expensive (“a luxurious house”). A luxuriant carpet is a shaggy one; a luxurious carpet is an expensive one.