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:
Good tip. This is definitely shows up in the writing of many of my students!
Thank you :)
Now I don't feel like I am being petty, or is it pettie, or maybe pettey...aw hell.
My pet peeve: people who use "over" when they really mean "more than." Same for "under" and "less than."
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.
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.
Even professional writers use "loose" when they mean "lose." For some examples, see
http://terriblywrite.wordpress.com/category/confused-words/loseloose/
Great examples Laura.
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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