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Contents 1 laager, lager 2 Labour Party, Labor Day 3 lady 4 laissez faire 5 lambast 6 lame duck, lame-duck 7 Land 8 landmine 9 Land Rover 10 languid, limpid 11 languor, languorous 12 Laos 13 large-scale 14 laser 15 last/past/latest 16 Last Supper 17 late 18 latter, former 19 lathi 20 laudable, laudatory 21 launderette 22 lay, lie 23 lay waste 24 lead, leading, led 25 leave 26 Lebanon 27 lectern 28 leftist 29 left wing 30 left-arm spinner 31 leg slip 32 leg spinner 33 legend/legendary 34 Legionnaires’ disease 35 legislature 36 lesbian, lesbianism 37 less 38 leukaemia, but in American style leukemia 39 level, levelling, levelled, but American style level, leveling, leveled 40 Levi’s 41 leverage 42 liaison 43 liberal 44 licence, license 45 lie, lying, lied 46 lie in state 47 lieutenant 48 lifelong 49 life-size 50 lifestyle, lifetime 51 lift 52 lift off 53 light, lighting, lit 54 lightning, lightening 55 light-year 56 like, as 57 like, such as 58 like- 59 -like 60 likeable, but in American style likable 61 likely 62 linage, lineage 63 linchpin 64 liquefy, liquefaction 65 liquidation 66 liquidity 67 lists 68 literally 69 litre 70 livable 71 livid, vivid 72 Lloyd’s 73 loaded words 74 loans 75 loath, loathe 76 local 77 locate/location 78 London Club 79 long-off, long-on 80 long term, long-term 81 long time, longtime 82 looking to 83 Lord’s 84 lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants 85 lorry 86 loveable 87 low-income 88 LNG 89 LPG 90 LSD 91 lumbar, lumber 92 Luxembourg 93 Luxuriant, luxorious 94 Lycra 95 Lyon

laager, lager

A laager is a defensive encampment, literally or metaphorically. Lager is a type of beer.

Labour Party, Labor Day

Follow the convention used for proper names. Note in particular the Australian Labor Party

lady

Use woman. Permissible in a team title such as Fulham Ladies’ football club. Where organisers use the title Ladies’ Championship, as at Wimbledon, substitute women’s championship.

laissez faire

lambast

lame duck, lame-duck

Two words for the noun, hyphenated for the adjective.

Land

The generic term for a federal state in Germany or Austria. The plural is Laender. Use state.

landmine

Land Rover

Trade mark. Capitalised. No hyphen.

languid, limpid

Languid means flagging, inert or listless. Limpid is clear or transparent.

languor, languorous

Laos

Use Lao for the language. Otherwise the adjective is Laotian, although there is a Lao ethnic group.

large-scale

Big is shorter and usually better.

laser

Acronym for a device using light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

last/past/latest

Last refers to times up to the present. Past is vaguer. The striker has been injured for the last (not past) three games but the star relived past glories. Use latest if last might confuse the most recent with the final occasion. His latest attempt my not be his last.

Last Supper

Capitalised.

late

Do not use to mean "dead".

latter, former

Avoid these expressions because they make readers read backwards to discern meaning.

lathi

Heavy stick carried by Indian police. Explain if used.

laudable, laudatory

Laudable is praiseworthy. Laudatory is giving or expressing praise.

launderette

British usage. In the United States, prefer self-service or coin-operated laundry.

lay, lie

Lay in the present tense takes an object. I lay down my arms, or I am laying down my arms. He laid down his arms. He has laid down his arms. Lie in the present tense does not take a direct object. I lie down to sleep, or I am lying down. I lay down yesterday. I have lain down for two hours.

lay waste

Lay waste a city, not lay waste to a city.

lead, leading, led

The past participle is led.

leave

As a verb, weak and imprecise. Use a more accurate and active verb. The attack killed three and wounded more than 20, not The attack left three killed. Duffy suffered torn ligaments after two clumsy tackles not Two clumsy tackles left Duffy with torn ligaments.

Lebanon

No definite article.

lectern

A speaker stands behind a lectern (a stand for notes) on a podium and in a pulpit. Several speakers can fit on a dais or rostrum or platform.

leftist

Avoid this term for something more precise.

left wing

A left-winger, a left-wing politician, but the left wing of the political spectrum.

left-arm spinner

The adjective is hyphenated.

leg slip

Two words for cricket fielding position.

leg spinner

Two words for bowler in cricket.

legend/legendary

Do not use except for legends. No sports person or film star is a legend.

Legionnaires’ disease

Plural, possessive and capitalised

legislature

Lower case in all uses.

lesbian, lesbianism

Lower case.

less

Use fewer when referring to numbers of individuals or individual items, less for quantities, e.g. Fewer than 10 rescuers were hurt but Less than 1,000 tons of coal was lost.

leukaemia, but in American style leukemia

level, levelling, levelled, but American style level, leveling, leveled

Levi’s

Trademark for a brand of jeans. Note the apostrophe.

leverage

The ratio of a company’s debt to equity. See glossary of financial terms.

liaison

Note the second i.

liberal

Capitalise only when part of a proper name.

licence, license

Licence is the noun, license the verb, but in American style license is both the noun and verb.

lie, lying, lied

To tell untruths.

lie in state

Applies only to people having a state funeral.

lieutenant

Hyphenate lieutenant-colonel and lieutenant-commander. At second reference just the colonel, the commander. Second lieutenant is not hyphenated but sub-lieutenant is. In the U.S. navy it is Lieutenant (j.g.) John Smith, j.g. meaning junior grade.

lifelong

It is wrong to call someone a lifelong alcoholic unless they started drinking in infancy. Make sure the activity or attribute really is lifelong.

life-size

lifestyle, lifetime

lift

Do not use as a synonym for raise, as in The Federal Reserve lifts discount rate.

lift off

Lift off is the verb, liftoff the noun and adjective.

light, lighting, lit

Use lit for the past participle.

lightning, lightening

Thunder follows lightning. After the storm the sky will be lightening.

light-year

A measure of distance not time. It is the distance light will travel in one year, about 6 million million miles (6 trillion miles) or 9.6 million million km (9.6 trillion km).

like, as

As compares verbs, like compares nouns and pronouns. He acted as a hero should, but he acted like a hero.

like, such as

Like means similar to. Such is used when offering an example. Politicians like Williams have short tempers and long memories, but Players such as Smith, Patel and Jones are essential in the team. Do not use like as a synonym for as if. He looks as if he is reviving, not like he is reviving.

like-

Hyphenate the prefix when it means similar to, e.g. like-spirited. No hyphen when it is part of a single word, e.g. likeliness, likelihood.

-like

Do not precede the suffix with a hyphen unless it would create a triplle "l" or the main element is a proper noun. E.g. shell-like, Norwalk-like.

likeable, but in American style likable

likely

Avoid as an adverb modifying a verb, e.g. The prime minister will likely announce the date of the election on Friday. Preferable is The prime minister is likely to announce…

linage, lineage

Linage is measurement or payment by the line and lineage is ancestry.

linchpin

Not lynchpin. But lynch law.

liquefy, liquefaction

Not liquify. But liquidate.

liquidation

See bankruptcy.

liquidity

The ease with which financial instruments can be traded on a market and turned into cash. Markets or instruments are described as being liquid, and having depth or liquidity, if there are enough buyers and sellers to absorb sudden shifts in supply and demand without price distortions. The opposite of illiquid. The term can also be used loosely to describe cash flow in a business, so a company that has fallen into a liquidity trap may have growing orders and production but has run out of cash.

lists

Lists should be in alphabetical order unless there is some other point being emphasised in the text that calls for a different order. So when referring to the G7, for example, say it “comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy Japan and the United States.”

literally

Use only in quotation since it almost always, in fact, means metaphorically.

litre

To convert to Imperial gallons roughly multiply by two and divide by nine, precisely multiply by 0.22. To convert to U.S. gallons roughly divide by 4, precisely multiply by 0.264. American style is liter.

livable

livid, vivid

Livid can be used colloquially for extremely angry, but it means black and blue or pale and ashen. Do not confuse with vivid, which means full of life or very bright.

Lloyd’s

Lloyd’s of London association of underwriters and Lloyd’s Register of Shipping both have apostrophes. Lloyds TSB Bank has no apostrophe.

loaded words

Avoid using admitted, agreed, according to, revealed, refuted, claimed etc. instead of said. They all contain an element of judgment by the reporter.

loans

Do not use the verb to give when referring to loans; they are paid for through interest. Do not say someone is raising a loan when it is being arranged. Use the word raise only when the amount of a loan already arranged is being increased. We need the exact name of the borrower, whether the loan is being guaranteed by a parent company or another body, the amount, the maturity and the interest rate. If the interest rate is variable or “floating”, then we need the specific reference or base rate of interest, e.g. the three-month or six-month London interbank offered rate (Libor), and the margin of interest paid above, or even below it, e.g. 1/4 percentage point.

Abbreviations such as Libor, Sibor, etc., are acceptable on second reference or in headlines. The interest payment might vary with the maturity. A five-year loan could pay 1/8 over Libor for three years, rising to 1/4 over Libor for the last two years. The loan might have a grace period – the period during which only interest and no principal is paid.

We should also report the fees paid to the banks, to discover the true cost to the borrower. For loans, there is likely to be a commitment fee – payment on any unused funds – and a facility fee, which is a payment for arranging the loan.

Before a loan is fully repaid, borrowers can change the terms or replace it altogether. Sometimes a financially healthy borrower will take advantage of an improving market or credit rating to do so; but often requests for changed terms are signs of financial desperation. Of the definitions below, for example, a refinancing or refinancing in itself does not indicate financial health or desperation. More details would be required. The other terms, however, signal trouble.

Refinancing: Borrower pays off one loan with the proceeds from another provided by other lenders. If the lenders are effectively the same, bankers might call it a refinancing to disguise a rescheduling.

Restructuring: Borrower arranges to replace debt of one maturity with the debt of another.

Rescheduling: Borrower delays repayment of principal according to a new schedule. Interest continues to flow, but the rate of interest might be raised or lowered.

Moratorium: Borrower declares it needs time to sort out its economic affairs and suspends payments of principal and possibly of interest due. Determine whether interest will be paid. If so, banks can continue to classify the loan as a “performing” asset.

Repudiation: Borrower declares that it does not intend to service or repay existing debts.

Default:A loose term best avoided unless technically correct. (It is often used to mean anything from failure to make an interest payment up to an intent never to pay off a debt at all.) Technically, the borrower does not default. The lender declares the borrower in default, e.g. if the borrower does not repay either the interest or principal according to the loan conditions.

The borrower may also be in breach of certain agreements concerning its overall financial health. In either case, an “event of default” may then have occurred, but the lender can refrain from calling a default, preferring to help the borrower sort things out. Given the imprecision of the phrase, make clear the nature of any default declared. To avoid using the word default, bankers often prefer to call loans sub-standard, nonperforming or value-impaired.

loath, loathe

Loath (not loth) is the adjective meaning reluctant or unwilling and loathe is the verb to dislike intensely.

local

Do not use. Local to what and to where? Say exactly where something is if you need to locate it. For example, the phrase local officials can confuse. Say officials in Tokyo, in Montevideo or wherever.

locate/location

Cumbersome and can usually be replaced by a better alternative, e.g. find, place, or by rephrasing the sentence.

London Club

An informal group of commercial creditors that meets to discuss debt problems with a particular country. They will normally set up an advisory committee of banks headed by a major creditor to look into ways to reschedule or write off debt arrears. Meetings are rarely held in London, but the term is bankers' shorthand to differentiate commercial creditors from the official ones which make up the Paris Club. Write an informal group of commercial creditors, called the London Club among bankers ...

long-off, long-on

Hyphenated for cricket fielding positions.

long term, long-term

Two words for the noun, one word hyphenated for the adjective. They had a long-term relationship which endured for the long term.

long time, longtime

Two words for the noun, one word for the adjective. Theirs was a longtime friendship which lasted a long time.

looking to

Japan was looking to Washington for support is all right. Japan was looking to restore good relations with Moscow is not.

Lord’s

The London cricket ground. Note apostrophe.

lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants

Hyphenated. Note the plural.

lorry

Use truck.

loveable

low-income

If you mean poor, say so.

LNG

liquefied natural gas.

LPG

liquefied petroleum gas (mainly propane and butane).

LSD

Explain: "the halucinogenic drug LSD."

lumbar, lumber

Lumbar is of the lower back and lumber is timber, stored furniture or to move heavily.

Luxembourg

Luxuriant, luxorious

Luxuriant is growth in rich abundance or excess. Luxurious is given to luxury or furnished with luxuries.

Lycra

A trademark. Use generic terms such as "stretch fabric".

Lyon

Category: The Reuters General Style Guide