Loose and Lose

[Trinique_Fire]

I'm seeing this more and more: loose being used in place of lose. It's starting to piss me off.

Teeth are loose.
Sports teams lose.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

But when unleashing the Dogs of War, do you 'loose' them or 'lose' them? 'Let loose' I can understand but the single word confuses me.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Amen! The SO came home the other day and asked irritably, "Am I the last person on the planet who understands the difference between 'loose' and 'lose'?" Apparently no one at the SO's workplace does. I see it constantly myself.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Dad, it's "loose" the Dogs of War, and Black, I just saw improper use of the word loose right here, on the AH, for Christ's sake.

Un-flippin-believable.

I also have a bone to pick with "your" and "you're."

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Dad, it's "loose" the Dogs of War, and Black, I just saw improper use of the word loose right here, on the AH, for Christ's sake.

Un-flippin-believable.

I also have a bone to pick with "your" and "you're."

And have we none of us noted the inability of some to differentiate between 'their' and 'they're'? Oysh!

Thanx, kid, BTW.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

And have we none of us noted the inability of some to differentiate between 'their' and 'they're'? Oysh!

Thanx, kid, BTW.

Np.

And don't forget "there."

 

[Pure]

yes, lose and loose, a problem that turns up constantly. incorrect, is almost a mark of lack of education.

lose [v.] {90% of the time, this is what's needed): to be bested in a competition--lose a war, a chess game; to let something go to where you can't find it; to have it become unavailable --lose your keys; to have something go missing; to cause or undergo a relationship coming to an end--Bob stood to lose Sally if she went to Europe. to undergo a loved one's death; he lost his son in the war. I told the cranky old man he'd lose his children; to be unable to attend to, or to carry through; lose focus; lose one's train of thought. to have [or make] something move/become beyond one's control--With a little alcohol, he loses inhibitions. to forfeit; if they found his age, he would lose his 'teen baseball' trophy.

a versatile word with at least a dozen meanings.

loose adj, {the most common} Without control; unfastened Loose lips sink ships; His belt as loose. Without exactitude, "The doctors said 'speaking loosely, it's the flu.'

loose [v.] to release something [often dangerous] from control Loose the dogs of war. to unleash. . to spread or disseminate. She loosed the rumor that her rival had been in jail. to let run free or wild; he used the drug to loose his imagination. M-W also mentions, 'to let fly'--loosed the arrow; and 'to make less rigid.'

==
sometimes it's the simple spelling error of a new speaker, since the sound ooo [as in 'food'] is usually two 'o's'

the single 'o' with a 'oo' sound is not common, though persists in a few common words like 'do.' e.g. Do Well. To the Lighthouse. such a person is unaware of the first 'lose', as described about, that is to say, its spelling.

===


Its/It's [and the fanciful non word its' ]The most common error that strikes me as a proof reader quite badly, and suggests looseness or impaired literacy; in the last sentence above, "He didn't know the word or it's spelling."


Note to Voluptuary: If an evil dictator intends to 'loose the dogs of war' and before that, they run off, then he, so to say 'loses the dogs of war.'

 

[DeeZire]

Actually, in some contexts, the meaning is virtually the same

"Too bad she's a prostitute. I guess she was just born to lose."
"Too bad she's a prostitute. I guess she was just born too loose."
(Not that there's anything wrong with being a prostitute.)

 

[Pure]

"Too bad she's a prostitute. I guess she was just born to lose."

"Too bad she's a prostitute. I guess she was just born too loose."
(Not that there's anything wrong with being a prostitute.)

//meaning virtually the same//

===
[perhaps you're kidding, but...]

respectfully, i don't see the similarity of meaning. 'born to lose, ' suggests she will NOT do well in the game of life, perhaps with men in particular.
====

'born too loose' sounds pretty odd, since babies aren't loose, except in the bowels.

perhaps as a metaphor, i.e. she was by nature, from the first (puberty?), just totally indiscriminate; must have been 'born loose.'

 

[jacks4u]

Would that I knew then, than now!

And Please don't forget then/than! I recently read a whole story with 'then' where 'than' should be! Drove me nuts!

 

[Vermilion]

even more irritating is the substitution of 'where' for 'were' and vice versa - intensely annoying
x
V

 

[oggbashan]

On AH posts, incorrect usage can be the result of typos.

In stories, incorrect usage is annoying.

In Kent, there is a village called Loose. It has a Women's Institute but they prefer to call themselves the W.I. instead of "The Loose Women's Institute". They also have a women's folk dance team "The Loose Women". They have a Mothers' Union but they prefer to use the church name instead of "The Loose Mothers' Union".

The village name SHOULD be pronounced "Lose" as in the verb "to lose".

Og

 

[LaRocha]

OE -lēosan vs. OE -lēas

Guess which one originated 'loose' and which one 'lose'?

Common spelling mistakes are common for a reason. Get over it.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Not quite the same but in the vein of grammar problems but a friend was out doing her laundry yesterday and saw something that struck her as funny.

"My faith in the future of America was slightly restored today at the laundromat. Someone had crossed out the "Beware: this dryer does not heat good" sign and wrote "Beware: this dryer does not heat WELL." Maybe we won't be a Third World country in another generation after all."

 

[mansome]

I play a lot of online poker and in chat sometimes I get called a "looser" after I beat someone. I just laugh at them.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Another one that is hardly brought up is shudder/shutter. how many times have you read a story where the woman shutters in orgasm?

 

[mansome]

Another one that is hardly brought up is shudder/shutter. how many times have you read a story where the woman shutters in orgasm?

actually I can imagine a woman emulating a "shutter" down there

 

[butters]

Another one that is hardly brought up is shudder/shutter. how many times have you read a story where the woman shutters in orgasm?

that's too funny

unlike the misuse of to, too, and two


with all these previous examples, if it's a case of typos then the rest of the text would suggest that as the reason. unfortunately, it frequently does not. dyslexia is another case where misspells can abound but a little help can sort them out to reveal something worth reading.

and then there're insest, meet instead of meat, and through for throw


just as well some of us help others out because poor spelling doesn't always mean the author hasn't a decent story/poem to publish, whereas i'm hotter on typos/spelling than i am at creating an original story.

 

[TE999]

What is more aggravating than the commonality of all the errors cited above in books, magazines and newspapers is the constant recurrence of 'homophones' eg: karat, carrot, caret and carat; as well as loose and lose as cited earlier.

I can excuse errors in posts...but in printed matter? How are grammar and spelling taut nowdays.

 

[glynndah]

What is more aggravating than the commonality of all the errors cited above in books, magazines and newspapers is the constant recurrence of 'homophones' eg: karat, carrot, caret and carat; as well as loose and lose as cited earlier.

I can excuse errors in posts...but in printed matter? How are grammar and spelling taut nowdays.

I particularly like the ones where the author thanks the editor.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

I have this friend on Myspace whose status consistently reads:

"realxing"

 

[mansome]

I have this friend on Myspace whose status consistently reads:

"realxing"

I still don't know where the hell "prolly" came from.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

I still don't know where the hell "prolly" came from.

I am guilty of using "prolly" every now and then. I'd never use it in a formal situation (i.e. at work, in a meeting, in a story, etc.), but I have used it here and there when texting.

 

[BlackShanglan]

OE -lēosan vs. OE -lēas

Guess which one originated 'loose' and which one 'lose'?

Common spelling mistakes are common for a reason. Get over it.

And that reason is that the people making them are more familiar with the Old English versions of the words?

 

[Trinique_Fire]

And that reason is that the people making them are more familiar with the Old English versions of the words?

I smell an alt/troll. Leave it, quad.