Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words - Bill Bryson [45]
Leiden, Leyden. The first is the usual spelling for the Dutch town, the second for the scientific instrument known as a Leyden jar.
lend, loan. Loan as a verb (“He loaned me some money”) is now more or less standard in America and is found increasingly throughout the rest of the English-speaking world. However, most British authorities and some American ones continue to urge that the usage be resisted. Bergen and Cornelia Evans, in contrast, find loan as a verb entirely unobjectionable, pointing out that it has been so used for eight hundred years. Nor, they add, is it a sloppy Americanism, as is sometimes suggested; it appeared in an Act of Parliament in Britain as long ago as 1542.
level, mark are often pointlessly employed. “Share prices once again fell below the 600 level” (Guardian) says no more than “fell below 600.” Similarly mark, as in “This year’s attendances have been hovering around the 25,000 mark” (Sunday Times). Make it “hovering around 25,000.”
Lewis, Meriwether, not -whether, -weather, for the coleader of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806.
Lhasa for the capital of Tibet, but 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 few older usage guides suggest that prone should apply only to people, but that seems to be an archaic view; the 1982 Concise Oxford Dictionary, for instance, cites “strike-prone industries” as an acceptable usage.
A separate problem with likely is seen in this sentence: “Cable experts say the agreement will likely strengthen the company’s position” (Washington Post). When 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.” A greater improvement still would be to recast and tighten the phrase entirely: “Cable experts say the agreement is likely to strengthen the company’s position.” See also INCLINE.
libel, slander. Although nearly all dictionaries define libel merely as a statement that defames a person or damages his or her 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. Nor is it possible, strictly speaking, to libel the dead, so the term was used loosely here: “The author’s breezy assertion that he [Thomas Jefferson] fathered a child by his slave Sally Hemings is regarded by many in the society as a gross and terrible libel” (Guardian). 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.
licence, license. For certain words that can function as both noun and verb, it was once common to distinguish the two forms by varying the penultimate letter, using a c in the noun form and an s in the verb. In America the practice is still