Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors - Bill Bryson [72]
Lancelot/Launcelot. Both spellings have been used for the Arthurian knight, the first notably by Tennyson and the second notably by Malory.
Land Rover, Range Rover (two words, no hyphen) for the British cars.
Land’s End, Cornwall, England, but Lands’ End for the clothing company.
Langtry, Lillie. (1853–1929) British actress; but her nickname was “The Jersey Lily.”
Languedoc-Roussillon. Region of France; capital Montpellier.
languid, limpid. Not to be confused. Limpid means clear, calm, un-troubled (“a limpid stream”). It has nothing to do with being limp or listless—meanings that are covered by languid.
languor, languorous.
lanyard. Not -iard. Short rope or cord.
Lanzhou. Capital of Gansu Province, China; formerly known in English as Lanchow.
Laois. Irish county (pronounced lay-ish.); in Gaelic, Laoighis. Formerly called Leix (pronounced laix) and Queen’s.
Laomedon. In Greek mythology, the founder of Troy.
Lao-tze (or Lao-tzu); in Pinyin Lao Zi. (c. 600–530 BC) Chinese philosopher, reputed founder of Taoism. On first reference it is probably best to give both the traditional and Pinyin spellings of the name.
laparotomy. Surgical incision into the abdominal wall.
La Paz. Administrative capital and main city of Bolivia; the official capital is Sucre.
Laphroaig. Whiskey; pronounced la-froyg.
lapis lazuli. Type of gemstone.
La Plata, Argentina, but Río de la Plata.
Lapp, Lappish, but Lapland, Laplander. The correct name for the people is Sami.
lapsus memoriae. (Lat.) A lapse of memory.
largess.
La Rochefoucauld, François, Duc de. (1613–1680) French writer known for his maxims.
Larousse. French publisher of reference books.
larrikin. Australian term for an uncultured or ill-behaved person.
larynx, pl. larynges/larynxes. Larynges should be the preferred term for medical or academic writings, but larynxes is probably better, and certainly more immediately understood, in more general contexts.
lasagna (or lasagne).
La Scala. Celebrated opera house in Milan; its formal name is Teatro alla Scala.
LaSorda, Tom. (1954–) CEO of Chrysler Group. But Tommy Lasorda (1927–) is the former baseball player and manager.
Lassen Peak. Volcanic mountain in northern California.
lasso, pl. lassos.
last, latest. Various authorities have issued various strictures against using last when you mean latest. Clearly, last should not be used when it might be misinterpreted, as in “the last episode of the television series” when you mean the most recent but not the final one. However, it should also be noted that last in the sense of latest has a certain force of idiom behind it, and when ambiguity is unlikely (as in “He spoke about it often during the last presidential election campaign”), a reasonable measure of latitude should be granted.
Lateran Treaty (1929). Treaty between Italy and the Vatican by which the papacy recognized Italy as a state and Italy recognized the Vatican City as a sovereign papal state.
latitude.
Latour, Château. A wine from Bordeaux.
La Tour, Georges de. (1593–1652) French artist.
Latter-day Saints. The Mormons’ name for themselves.
laudable, laudatory. Occasionally confused. Laudable means deserving praise. Laudatory means expressing praise.
Launcelot/Lancelot. Both spellings are used for the Arthurian knight, the first by Malory, the second by Tennyson.
laundromat is no longer a trademark.
law and order is singular.
lawful, legal. In many contexts the words can be used interchangeably, but not always. Lawful means “permissible under the law” (lawful behavior, lawful protest). Legal has that meaning plus the additional sense of “relating to the law,” as in legal system or legal profession.
lay, lie. Lay and lie, in all their manifestations, are a constant source of errors. There are no simple rules for dealing with them. You must either commit their various forms to memory or avoid them altogether. The forms are as follows:
lay
lie
present: I lay the book on the table.
I lie down / I am lying down.
past: Yesterday I laid the book on the table.
Last night I lay