MetaChat - Loose vs Lose.

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29 January 2008

Loose vs Lose. Spelling pet peeve of the day. "Loose" = not tight, like a shoelace, or a tooth. "Lose" = get rid of, misplace, as in extra weight, or keys.

post by: chewatadistance at: 14:42 | 43 comments

Chewie, calm down! You sound like you're loosing it!

posted by Miko 29 January | 14:44

Spelling nazis - what a bunch of loosers.

posted by bmarkey 29 January | 14:45

Losen up, chewie. Don't loose any sleep over it.

posted by iconomy 29 January | 14:45

Losen your corset chewie! You need some air!

posted by goo 29 January | 14:46

May I add led/lead?

Led: Was in charge of.
Lead: Metal, or to be in charge of right now.

posted by mudpuppie 29 January | 14:46

Oh wow, here I was being all earnest and shit.

posted by mudpuppie 29 January | 14:47

Are you sure you don't mean ernest?

posted by iconomy 29 January | 14:49

To be frank (not ernest), the ones that bug me the most are alot and your/you're.

posted by iconomy 29 January | 14:50

Ha, funny, I was just having the same pet peeve. I have seen that mistake at least three times today.

posted by amro 29 January | 15:11

Your not being very lose!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 29 January | 15:11

I was just feeling peeved (or peevish, maybe?) about peddle/pedal, which is all the more irritating because it pretty much happens only in bicycling forums, and you'd hope that folks would know better.

posted by box 29 January | 15:15

Me, I've been feeling lost like a falcon from the widening gyre.

posted by tangerine 29 January | 15:17

I went outside and had a fartfest and now I feel much better. Thanks, loosers!

posted by chewatadistance 29 January | 15:22

I've never considered the prospect of flatulating my irritation away. But I will from now on.

Thanks, chewie!

posted by mudpuppie 29 January | 15:33

Palette/palate is mine.

posted by mrmoonpie 29 January | 15:36

Athiest

posted by altolinguistic 29 January | 15:40

Agreed, chewatadistance. And on the led/lead thing. That's at least a little more understandable, because there are pronunciation issues there.

Nothing, though, is worse than misuse of apostrophes.

Does "my" have an apostrophe? Does "his"? Then why would "its"?

posted by ibmcginty 29 January | 15:49

My pet peeve is appauled/apauled for "appalled." Whenever I see that it just makes me throw up my hands and say, "Really? Really??" I mean I can see why phonetically, but really? And I don't mean, like you typed "teh" by accident or mixed up some letters, or you just went stupid for a second and had a homonym mixup. I mean someone who puts down a phonetically spelled word. "Your incorrect spelling makes me think you are not sure how to spell this word and there was at least some form of guessing involved, but the fact that you went ahead and used it speaks volumes." Maybe I'm anal, but unless it's a typo, if I don't know how to spell a word I indicate that I'm not sure how to spell it, or since you're already on the internet, I don't know, LOOK IT UP? Why would you willfully misspell something? Especially since I see it most from people who make posts or responses and are using words like appalled to try and sound intelligent and condescending. It's one thing to be stupid and you just don't know and can't be bothered to spell correctly. But it's totally something else when you're writing some lengthy windbag response about how "appauled" you are at the "inconsederate" behavior of such a "discusting" person. EEEEEEEEEEFFFF YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

/and scene.

posted by kkokkodalk 29 January | 15:59

*applauleses scene*

posted by rainbaby 29 January | 16:01

Bet you learned all this at the libary.

posted by arse_hat 29 January | 16:09

It's a mute point anyway.

posted by grouse 29 January | 16:14

For all intense and purposes, I agree with almost everything posted so far. Irregardless of weather or not I notice those things myself when reading.

posted by iconomy 29 January | 16:22

Um, iconomy, I think you mean "for all intensive purposes".

posted by bmarkey 29 January | 16:25

I'm so greatfl you brough this matter to our attension.

Actually, the one I hate right now is rein/reign.

posted by casarkos 29 January | 16:25

Um, iconomy, I think you mean "for all intensive purposes".

Oh how embarrassing for me! I thought intense and purposes was perfectly cromulent.

posted by iconomy 29 January | 16:34

Sorry, ico, but sometimes you have to be crewl to be kine.

posted by bmarkey 29 January | 16:42

Misplaced apostrophes - apostrophe's, your/you're, they're/their and so on. How hard can it be to get it right?

posted by Daniel Charms 29 January | 16:45

There may be too ways to look at this: but I don't want to get to wrapped up in it.

posted by disclaimer 29 January | 16:48

For all intents and purposes, grammatical errors are punishable by firehose.

posted by chewatadistance 29 January | 16:49

I have intensive porpoises.

posted by goo 29 January | 16:50

I don't understand why people say they want to loose weight. Does ANYONE want loose weight? I sure don't!

(and I know where you saw it!)

posted by pinky.p 29 January | 17:07

OK sure, I used to get all cranked up about this stuff. Then I worked with a bunch of really smart scientists and medical types who really couldn't be bothered, so long as a) I was there to clean up after them, and b) their point was gotten across.

And then I started dealing with people (read: Kids These Days *harrumph*) who use informal text (txt msging, email, chat, etc.) on a near-continual basis. Hassling these sorts about issues they Don't Give A Damn About, particularly when it doesn't truly matter (i.e. in email, chat, txt msg formats) is about as effective as... I dunno, probably affecting a Thurston Howell-esque lockjaw in a redneck bar or something. At best you'll get pointed and laughed at, and you do run the slight but real risk of getting your ass kicked.

posted by lonefrontranger 29 January | 17:08

Actually I don't think I see that one as much lately.

"Peaked my interest" and "tow the line" are the ones that get to me now.

Also not really a grammar or spelling peeve, but it annoys me when anyone in a business context uses "key" to mean "kind of important". The whole point of the key analogy was that it was the one thing that fits. If everything you're vaguely in favour of is "key" then the analogy is worthless.

posted by TheophileEscargot 29 January | 17:24

"key" has been used as a synonym for important probably longer than you have been alive, TheophileEscargot, unless you're a lot older than I think you are.

posted by grouse 29 January | 17:51

The lose loose thing is something I brought up before here. I was told to mellow the fuck out, it's just words. So I gave the place the finger.

posted by eekacat 29 January | 19:21

DEFINATELY. Your all write about these.

posted by richat 29 January | 20:05

This thread has impacted the way I speak in public.

posted by Eideteker 29 January | 20:46

Some EXCELLENT advise here!

posted by Feisty 29 January | 21:40

Eideteker of coarse means it has effected the way he speaks.

posted by casarkos 29 January | 23:23

Thank God spelling errors are being addressed for a change. Now I can finally breath...

posted by serena 29 January | 23:33

populace/populous

posted by DevilsAdvocate 30 January | 14:32

Using "penultimate" to mean "really ultimate."

posted by kirkaracha 30 January | 15:03

Kenultimate.

posted by goo 30 January | 16:08

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