Use of English

LHeC

Large Hadron electron Collider

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

liaison

translation

licence or license?

With a "c" when it's a noun; with an "s" when it's a verb. 

I always carry my driving licence with me for identification.

The government has agreed to license the sale of firearms.

 

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spelling, translation

licensing, licensee

translation

life-sized

translation

lifelong

translation

lifestyle

translation

lifetime

translation

light-year

use hyphen

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Courier

LIGO

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory

Spell out in first use then use acronym for the CERN Courier

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abbreviations, acronyms, Courier

Linac

Short for linear accelerator. Capital L when referring to one of CERN's Linacs, otherwise lower case. Add a numeral with no space when differentiating between CERN's linear accelerators. 

Linac2 started up in 1978 as a successor to Linac1. 

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abbreviations, acronyms, style, translation

linear accelerator

A particle accelerator that accelerates particles in a straight line rather than in a circle. 

Shorten to Linac

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style

links

Links should always be in the form:

<a href="link_url_here">Link text here</a>.

Never show the reader the URL; keep it within a word or sentence. 

So: 

For CERN's style guide for web texts, click here.

NOT

For CERN's style guide for web texts, click here: https://test-static-04.web.cern.ch

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style

litre (not liter)

translation

LIU

LHC Injectors Upgrade project

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

LMC

Large Magellanic Cloud

Spell out in first use then use acronym for the CERN Courier

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abbreviations, acronyms, Courier

LNF

Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati ​(Frascati National Laboratory)

Spell out in first use then use acronym for the CERN Courier

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abbreviations, acronyms, Courier

LNGS

Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Gran Sasso National Laboratory)

Spell out in first use then use acronym for the CERN Courier

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abbreviations, acronyms, Courier

log in (verb); login (noun)

translation

logbook

translation

logo

All official CERN websites should use the CERN logo, with the following conditions:

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style

long term (pred.); long-term (adj.)

translation

Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment

use hyphen, also for Short-Baseline

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Courier

long-standing

use hyphen

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translation

longlist (verb); long list (noun)

but use a hyphen in the past tense: long-listed

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translation

LP-SPL

Low-Power Super Proton Linac

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

LQCD

Lattice QCD

Spell out in first use then use acronym for the CERN Courier

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abbreviations, acronyms, Courier

LS1,2,3

Long Shutdown 1, 2, 3

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

luminosity

The number of particles per unit area per time, multiplied by the opacity of the target (its impenetrability) to electromagnetic radiation.

Luminosity is measured in barns per second: b-1s-1

Luminosity is an important measure of the performance of a particle accelerator.

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physics

macroeconomic

translation

make up (verb); make-up (noun)

translation

manoeuvre

translation

many-sided

use hyphen

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translation

MAPS

Merit Advancement and Promotion Scheme (replaced by MARS)

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

marketplace

translation

MARS

Merit Appraisal and Recognition Scheme (replaced by MERIT)

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

Marseilles

not Marseille in the CERN Courier

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Courier

mass

The quantity of matter that a body contains, as measured by its acceleration under a given force or by the force exerted on it by a gravitational field. Do not confuse with weight.

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physics

massive

"Has mass" – the opposite of "massless". Does not mean "is large".

Though the up quark is a massive particle, it is not very big.

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physics

maths

Not "math", as the shortened form of "mathematics".

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style

may or might?

The subtle distinctions between these (and between other so-called modal verbs) are gradually disappearing, but they still matter to many readers and can be useful.

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grammar

MCHF

Million Swiss francs

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

MEDICIS

Medical Isotopes Collected from ISOLDE (medical applications facility at ISOLDE)

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

medium term (pred.); medium-term (adj.)

translation

meet, met

Do not add the word "with" after meet or met. Write:

I met John the other day and tomorrow I will meet his wife. 

Not:

I met with John the other day and tomorrow I will meet with his wife. 

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grammar

megaparsec (Mpc)

Courier

Member State (adj. and noun)

Initial capital letters when referring to CERN Member States (likewise Associate Member State, Observer, etc.)

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Courier, style, translation

memorandum (pl. memoranda)

translation

merchandise

translation

MERIT

Merit Evaluation and Recognition Integrated Toolkit

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abbreviations, acronyms, translation

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