Friday, May 1, 2009

Language Peeves - Loose vs Lose

A language peeve from a new friend and fellow blogger Only Half Nuts -

I think my biggest peeve is people interchanging loose and lose. (As in, I want to loose weight instead of lose weight...or loosing your mind instead of losing it...which is what happens to me when I read this mistake:)

This is purely a spelling error and it is an annoying one indeed.

Here is one way to help people remember the proper spelling of each word:

In order to lose weight, you need to lose an "o" from the word "loose." And if your clothing is too loose it is probably because the additional "o" in the word "loose" adds more space between the "l" and the "s" in the word "lose."

8 comments:

Erin Davis said...

Good tip. This is definitely shows up in the writing of many of my students!

OHN said...

Thank you :)

Now I don't feel like I am being petty, or is it pettie, or maybe pettey...aw hell.

Kathleen said...

My pet peeve: people who use "over" when they really mean "more than." Same for "under" and "less than."

JD (The Engine Room) said...

I suppose 'loose' rhymes with other 'oose' words such as 'noose' and 'moose'; unlike 'lose' they all have that unvoiced 's'. That might be another way to remember which spelling is which.

Laura Payne said...

Kathleen - Thanks for sharing your peeve. Look for it in a future post.


JD - Very true, but the rhyming doesn't seem to help everyone. Maybe it is too simple.

Laura said...

Even professional writers use "loose" when they mean "lose." For some examples, see
http://terriblywrite.wordpress.com/category/confused-words/loseloose/

Laura Payne said...

Great examples Laura.

Anonymous said...

Oh my god! I hate it when people use loose if they really mean lose! You have good company! See: Loose vs. Lose

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