J
JCPenney, J. C. Penney Company Inc.
Use JCPenney for general marketing copy related to the retail and/or catalog business. Use J. C. Penney Company Inc. for any donor listing to represent the overall corporation.
judgment
Not judgement.
Jr., Sr.
Abbreviate as Jr. and Sr. only with the full names of persons or animals. Precede by a comma: Paul B. Loyd, Jr. The notation II or 2nd also may be used if it is the individual's preference. Note, however, that II and 2nd are not necessarily the equivalent of junior – they often are used by a grandson or a nephew.
K
kickoff
One word as an adjective and noun.
Kmart
No hyphen, no space, lowercase m.
L
languages
Capitalize the proper names of languages and dialects: Aramaic, Cajun, English, French, Persian, Spanish, Yiddish, etc.
laptop
One word.
lay vs. lie
The action word is lay. (If the word "put" can be substituted, lay is the proper word.) It takes a direct object. Laid is the form for its past tense and its past participle. Its present participle is laying.
Lie indicates a state of reclining along a horizontal plane. It does not take a direct object. Its past tense is lay. Its past participle is lain. Its present participle is lying.
When lie means to make an untrue statement, the verb forms are lie, lied, lying. Examples: I will lay the book on the table. The prosecutor tried to lay the blame on him. He lies (not lays) on the beach all day. He is lying on the beach. He lay on the beach (past tense of lie).
laypersons
Not laypeople.
lecture titles
Capitalize and use quotes (no italics) for their formal titles: Archaeology Professor Mike Snyder will present "A Study of Iron Age Inhabitants of the Northeast Texas Area."
lecturer
Instructor in a given field.
legislative titles
On first reference: Use Rep., Reps., Sen. and Sens. as formal titles before one or more names in regular text. Spell out and capitalize these titles before one or more names in a direct quotation. Spell out and lowercase representative and senator in other uses.
Add U.S. or state before a title only if necessary to avoid confusion: U.S. Rep. Jim Chapman met with state Rep. Pete Patterson on Friday.
On second reference: Do not use legislative titles before a name on second reference unless they are part of a direct quotation.
Congressman and congresswoman should appear as capitalized formal titles before a name only in direct quotations, but they may be used in lowercase in subsequent references to the legislator that do not use his or her name, just as senator is used in reference to members of the Senate.
liaison
library
Uppercase when referring to a specific SMU library. DeGolyer Library is home to SMU's special collections. The Library sometimes mounts exhibitions for the public.
lifestyle
Not life style or life-style.
ligatures
The union of two letters, utilized with certain typefaces. We use the fi and fl ligatures.
likable
Not likeable.
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works®
Due to trademark issues, SMU may not indicate possession of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® in any fashion. The shortest first reference version we may use is the SMU/Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® Program. Calling it "the program" is acceptable on second reference. SMU's Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® Program is not acceptable.
The long version is the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® Program at the SMU Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering. Delores Etter of the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education is amenable to separating, when necessary, the full name of the school from the "Works" as long as the engineering school identification rides very high in the story.
-ly
Do not use a hyphen between adverbs ending in -ly and adjectives they modify: an easily remembered rule, a badly damaged ship, a fully informed person. See The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition.