'loose' vs 'lose'

[trof]

Damn, this bugs the hell out of me.
It makes us look stupid and illiterate.
I've seen it three times in the last 20 minutes on DU.
WORDS MATTER!

Loose: The XXL tee shirt was a very loose fit.
The captives were turned loose.

Lose: If you gamble, you might lose.
How much weight did you lose?

Got it?
ONE "O" for less or not as much.
TWO "Os" for roomier?

Go forth and sin no more.

[LonePirate]

1. Every time I see someone use "loose" when they meant "lose" I think they are a deplorable.

[trof]

2. They might are be.

Arby's?

[KT2000]

3. what about your and you're

Your post makes sense. your - possessive

You're going to hear from some who don't like to be corrected. you are - apostrophe where the "a" is taken out

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Yes! And "their," "there" and "they're" are another hot mess

that people can't seem to sort out.

"Their" is possessive. It refers to something that belongs to them: "Their XXL tee shirts fit loosely."

"There" has a lot of uses but generally either (1) denotes location as an adverb, or (2) acts as an indefinite pronoun that introduces a sentence where the verb comes first or has no subject: (1) "The captives who were turned loose are over there." (2) "There are a lot of captives who have loose XXL tee shirts."

"They're" is a contraction for "they are": "They're wearing loose XXL tee shirts."

The most common sin is using there when the correct word should be their. Please stop. It looks illiterate and freeper-ish.

[Skittles]

10. your and you're

whenever I see people getting such words wrong, I have to wonder if they EVER read a book because they are VERY common words

[JDC]

5. Donald Trump is a Looser.

I kid....!

[guillaumeb]

6. Lose the attitude.

Loose standards of spelling should not cause anyone to lose their cool.

[oldcynic]

33. good one. I can never remember.

[Lithos]

7. Easy

Republicans loose ethics and morality means the majority lose

[denbot]

8. Sigh..

Thank you Sir, may I have another.

[Skittles]

9. DON'T BE A LOOSER!

NO INDEED!

[Martin Eden]

11. This has been my pet peeve for years

I'll let most grammar and spelling errors go without comment, but not this one; it brings out the spelling nazi in me.

Quick, and to the point:
Loose rhymes with juice.
Lose rhymes with booze.

I'll have some now.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

13. I'm with you there

I also get irked by people who evidently believe there, their and they're are interchangeable.

[Martin Eden]

14. Me to!

(sorry, couldn't resist)

My freshman year in college the only English class I could fit into my schedule was apparently designed for the academically challenged. First day of class the teacher wrote TO MUCH on the blackboard and asked what was wrong with it. After several seconds of silence I answered "Nothing -- if much is a verb."

I proficiencied out of that class and got two requirements under my belt in one semester.

[whistler162]

12. Looosen up their!

[NightWatcher]

15. Your two write...

Did you know the guy who proofread Hitler's speeches was the original Grammar Nazi.

[True Dough]

16. 1980s reference...

[OrwellwasRight]

54. That's Fantastic!

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

17. Grisly vs. Grizzly

"Grizzly crime scene" and "grisly bear."

I've actually seen this in an allegedly professionally published novel. A friend of mine who takes commissions for ceramics has gotten more than one request for a "grisly bear."

[csziggy]

18. The GIF for grammar nazis

[pokerfan]

20. It's a wise dog that scratches its own fleas.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. Thank you!

I don't know why this happens, but I've seen it, too...

[Glorfindel]

21. Confusing "then" and "than" is also common

As in, "He makes less money then I do."

[left-of-center2012]

22. There mistake shouldn't bother you

There probably typing in a hurry.

[Le Gaucher]

23. With a President who has loose morals ...we all lose

[mopinko]

24. here here.

jk. it's hear hear, people.
how this one gets lost is beyond me.

[Yonnie3]

25. I try to stay lose when I loose. ;)

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Motley13]

26. putz is a loser on the loose

your & you're drives me nuts

your apple
you're an idiot

[uriel1972]

27. bare with me?...nt

[earthshine]

28. I am (or rather was) a professional writer.

The bastardization of the English language on DU and other forums is perpetually disturbing to me.

Some intelligent people look like idiots when seen through the writing style of their posts.

Recently, much of this has to do with people typing on phones instead of keyboards.

My own pet peeve is apostrophes. People are just confused about possessive versus plural. Most people would write, Clinton was president in the 1990's. It should be written as "1990s."

On the other hand, the internet has given us some grammatical enhancements. Emoticons, for example, can be powerful. And the one I love the most ... the use of the ellipses to signify a pause. It's a longer pause than a comma — but does not indicate the sharp break in thought denoted by the emdash.

[3catwoman3]

36. A nails-on-chalkboard...

...apostrophe horror I have seen and heard with increasing frequency is people making a possessive out of "I" - John and I's vacation. Makes me shudder.

Or a plural possessive (I hope that is the proper term) - We are going over to the Taylors'. Not the Taylor's

[ailsagirl]

44. I hear that all the time

I hope it's not becoming accepted!!

[3catwoman3]

47. My husband just told me that he read that...

...irregardless will be going in the dictionary. Nooooooooooooooo!

[ailsagirl]

49. Wkikpedia

Irregardless is a word commonly used in place of regardless or irrespective, which has caused controversy since the early twentieth century, though the word appeared in print as early as 1795. Most dictionaries list it as nonstandard or incorrect usage, and recommend that "regardless" should be used instead.

[question everything]

52. I think that communicating by text, dropping capital letters and using short cuts

has enhanced the ruining of the language.

If you communicate with thumbs - literally - you are not going to be bothered by correct grammar.

[cemaphonic]

55. My favorite distillation of that idea:

An apostrophe doesn't mean "here comes an S!"

[John1956PA]

56. I, too, am dismayed by the prevalence of unwarranted apostrophes in numeric references for decades.

[Demoiselle]

29. In other words, you feel badly about this.

(My dear late father's favorite goof. He would illustrate "feeling badly" by groping around the table with his eyes closed and pronouncing the fork he picked up to be a knife. Ie., he was feeling badly.)
Cheers.

[womanofthehills]

30. Randi Rhodes was talking about this on her radio show yesterday

She said most of her negative mail has mix ups with to and too, and your and you're - etc.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. Lou's losing loose grammar? nt

[Aristus]

32. I knew a guy when I was in the Army whose name was 'Loser'.

It was pronounced Low-zer, but of course, we pronounced it the way it was spelled. He was a good sport about it.

[oldcynic]

34. I blame it all on spellchecker

if the word is a word, spellchecker doesn't give a damn.



And here I am thinking spellchecker is anthropomorphic.

[PennyK]

35. How about "desert' and "dessert?"

I see this more often than you'd think.
I reason that a yummy treat would have more frills (the extra S) than a dry, arid region.

[orleans]

50. my daughter told me her teacher explained it like this:

one s or two

when it comes to a dessert you always want 2

[3catwoman3]

37. Just for fun.

Ode To Spellcheck

I have a spelling chequer.
It came with my PC.

It planely marks four my revue,
Miss takes I can knot sea.

I've run this poem threw it,
And I'm shore your glad two no.

Its wonder full in every weigh.
My chequer tolled mi sew.

[sl8]

46. Very good - thanks for that. n/t

[3catwoman3]

48. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I cannot take credit for it. I saw it somewhere several years ago, and liked it so much I memorized it. I did tweak it a bit for meter - it bugs me when the "beat" is off.

[steve2470]

38. Ur..... lots of young people very interested in ancient Sumerian history!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur

[area51]

39. Someone posted this awhile ago,

and I loved it.

[ailsagirl]

40. Don't forget it's and its

It's (it is) going to rain

The dog barked its head off (possessive-- but NO apostrophe)

TAKE THE QUIZ
http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar_quiz/its_1.asp

[cwydro]

41. I see it's and its used incorrectly ALL the time here.

As well as the the others mentioned in this thread.

[ailsagirl]

43. Yep-- except Skinner and EarlG always use it correctly

[WinkyDink]

42. Loose as a goose.

[sl8]

45. Got it. From now on, I shall say, "I like to wear loose-fitting cloths." n/t

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

51. I know. So many mistakes, so little time to correct them.

Since I have also put out posts here with some similarly stupid error, I try not to be too judgmental.

What I often do is PM the poster and gently point out the mistake. I always get a grateful PM back.

But yes, words and usage really matter.

One thing, found slightly more in spoken language, is a complete ignorance of the difference between subject and object pronouns.

"Me and Mary saw that movie." "Just between you and I, the President is an idiot."

When my sister's kids were young, I asked her why she didn't correct such mistakes, that her kids were making all the time. She said, "I don't need to. They hear me saying it correctly, and eventually they'll catch on." Well, guess what. They never did catch on, and now sound like semi-literate persons. Worse yet, the child who makes the most such errors, did make it through college, apparently with a deplorable GPA, because she frequently says, "C's get degrees." Personally, I'm appalled that she wasn't imbued with higher standards, but she's not my child.

[question everything]

53. "Irregardless" drives me crazy

It is regardless. From math: two negatives make it positive.

And then many cannot differentiate between affect and effect. I think that this is why impact, as a verb, has become so common.