Bryan A. Garner

lest (2). Today: Mood Following “lest.” “Lest” is best followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood, not the indicative, because “lest” points to something that is merely possible, not definite — e.g.: “The Bosnian Serb military leader is reportedly leery of leaving the self-proclaimed republic of Srpska, lest he be dragged off to The […]

less (3). Today: Two Last Things. Part A: And “lesser.” “Lesser,” like “less,” refers to quantity, but it is confined to use as an adjective before a singular noun and following an article {a lesser crime} or alone before a plural noun {lesser athletes}, thus performing a function no longer idiomatically possible with “less.” Dating

less (2). Today: “One fewer” or “one less“? If, in strict usage, “less” applies to singular nouns and “fewer” to plural nouns, the choice is clear: “one less golfer” on the course, not “one fewer golfer.” This is tricky only because “less” is being applied to a singular count noun, whereas it usually applies to

less (1). Today: And “fewer.” Strictly, “less” applies to singular mass nouns {less water} and “fewer” applies to plural count nouns {fewer interruptions}. An exception occurs when the plural count nouns are divisible units of measurements that essentially function as mass nouns {less than $5 a day}. Only if the units of measure are clearly

Miscellaneous Entries. kaffeeklatsch, a German loanword meaning “a coffee-drinking group that engages in leisurely conversation,” is so spelled. “Coffee klatsch” and “coffee klatch” are variant forms. kaleidoscope. So spelled. Kazakhstan. So spelled — with the medial “-h-.” The inhabitants of this former Soviet republic are called “Kazakhs.” kebab; kabob; kebob; cabob. The first of these

lens. So spelled — not “lense.” But the misspelling occurs fairly often, as something like a back-formation from the plural — e.g.: o “Raunchy Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopez — who got her nickname after wearing a condom over one lense [read ‘lens‘] of her glasses — makes no apologies for her behaviour.” John Dingwall, “Latest

lend — lent — lent. So inflected. “Lended” is a frequent error — e.g.: o “The $27 black windbreakers emblazoned with ‘Crown Casting Co.’ lended [read ‘lent‘] credibility in the final minutes before ‘Action!’” Ann E. Donlan, “54 Bad ‘Actors’ Answer Police ‘Casting Call,’” Boston Herald, 9 June 1997, at 5. o “Kukoc lended [read

legal holiday; bank holiday. A “legal holiday” is a day designated by law as a holiday, accompanied by the closing of most public offices and paid leave for most public employees. Observance of a legal holiday by the private sector is voluntary. A legal holiday may be established by the national government (e.g., July 4

Miscellaneous Entries. junta; junto. Of Spanish origin, “junta” (= a political or military group in power, esp. after a coup d’état) is pronounced either /HOON-tuh/ or /JUHN-tuh/. It is much more common in American English than its altered form, “junto” /JUHN-toh/, which has undergone slight differentiation to mean “a self-appointed committee having political aims.” Ernest

Legalese. Despite popular prejudices, not all uses of legal language are bad. But unnecessarily complex legal jargon — or “legalese” — is widely viewed by legal scholars as the source of many problems: (1) it alienates people from their legal system; (2) it besots its users — namely, lawyers — who think they’re being more

legal; lawful; licit. “Legal” is the broadest term, meaning either (1) “of or pertaining to law, falling within the province of law,” or (2) “established, permitted, or not forbidden by law.” These two senses are used with about equal frequency. “Lawful” and “licit” share sense 2 of “legal“: “according to or not contrary to law,

Even though “lecturership” is more logical (being analogous to “professorship” and “ambassadorship,” for example), it hasn’t established itself as a standard term. The usual word is the age-old “lectureship,” which is now about 100 times as common in print sources — e.g.: “His extracurricular activities include guest lectureships at Juilliard and charities like Paul Newman’s

Miscellaneous Entries. joust. The traditional view is that this word should be pronounced either /juhst/ or /joost/. See NBC Handbook of Pronunciation 264 (4th ed. 1984) (listing only /juhst/); William H.P. Phyfe, 20,000 Words Often Mispronounced 421 (1937) (listing only /juhst/ and /joost/). But almost all Americans say /jowst/; this pronunciation must be considered not

least worst. This phrase, like its kissing cousin “least worse,” doesn’t make literal sense: it should be “least bad.” If you have several undesirable options with varying levels of undesirability, only one can be the worst. All the others are less bad, and the least undesirable is the least bad. With a superlative adverb such

Miscellaneous Entries. jetsam (= goods abandoned at sea and submerged indefinitely) is so spelled — not “jetsom.” E.g.: “A box contains the flotsam and jetsom [read ‘jetsam’] she collects to make impressions in the sand.” Larry Maddry, “Artist Finds a Home for Her Creative Spirit via the Sand of Virginia,” Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk), 25 Oct. 1995,

lease, vb.; let. “Let” (10th c.) is 300 years older than “lease” (13th c.) in the sense “to grant the temporary possession and use of (land, buildings, rooms, movable property) to another in return for rent or other consideration.” But both are well established, and they are equally good. As used by real estate agents