Word misuse disease spreads through media...
Yes, the terrible lose/loose confusion has now made the front page of the Limerick Independant, as we are informed that some poor teenager "looses life". This inaccurate use of the word loose is spreading like wildfire through Irish society. It has yet to appear on a large scale elsewhere, and seems to be mostly confined to Ireland. Specifically, the issue is with the replacement of lose with loose; the opposite never seems to occur.
Some examples of this error:
Student looses jacket in Main Building.
Team loose to rampant visiting side.
Loose, to me, refers to the state of not being tightened properly, to be about to fall off or fail; lose refers to the state of no longer being in possession of something, of misplacing it. Interestingly, if a bolt was loose on your bike, you could easily lose it...
You can, of course, loose an arrow, but this is from the likes of Robin Hood novels and involves letting an arrow fly from your bow deliberately.
Merriam Webster has the following to say on the matter:
Main Entry: loose
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): loosed; loos·ing
transitive verb
1 a : to let loose : RELEASE b : to free from restraint
2 : to make loose : UNTIE
3 : to cast loose : DETACH
4 : to let fly : DISCHARGE
5 : to make less rigid, tight, or strict : RELAX
intransitive verb : to let fly a missile (as an arrow) : FIRE
Main Entry: lose
Pronunciation: 'lüz
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): lost /'lost/; los·ing /'lü-zi[ng]/
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English losian to perish, lose, from los destruction; akin to Old English lEosan to lose; akin to Old Norse losa to loosen, Latin luere to atone for, Greek lyein to loosen, dissolve, destroy
transitive verb
1 a : to bring to destruction -- used chiefly in passive construction
2 : to miss from one's possession or from a customary or supposed place
3 : to suffer deprivation of : part with especially in an unforeseen or accidental manner
4 a : to suffer loss through the death or removal of or final separation from (a person) b : to fail to keep control of or allegiance of
5 a : to fail to use : let slip by : WASTE
6 : to cause the loss of
7 : to fail to keep, sustain, or maintain
8 a : to cause to miss one's way or bearings
9 a : to wander or go astray from
10 : to fail to keep in sight or in mind
11 : to free oneself from : get rid of
4 Comments:
"Independent" is spelled with 3 "e"s (and not "independAnt") ;-)
Independant (sic)
How's that, then?
It's funny. I have the same rant. I see loose misused all the time in discussion forums...especially when someone calls another person a "looser" It's so rampant, it's going to appear in the dictionary soon as a slang definition. Many times I'm hoping it's intentional, making fun of the internet language like "ghey" "Caek," "pnowned," etc. But I doubt it.
I found your post because I was reading this serious article;
http://www.helium.com/items/837162-express-their-feelings-easily
and wondered if someone else had the same rant I have.
The confusion between, and misuse of lose and loose. Seems to have taken hold here in the USA about 3 or 4 years ago. Now it's happening all the time. Drives me nuts, because most people used to know how to use them.
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