# Holy shit. Nobody knows the difference between "lose" and "loose" any more. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 1, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547 "2010-12-01T16:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/1 "2010-12-01T16:25:24Z")
Even people [who call themselves journalists](http://gizmodo.com/5697235/always-have-the-latest-gadgets++without-going-broke) are doing it these days. :smack: (Note for those playing at home: I wrote an e-mail to the writer of this piece so they may correct it, but as of this moment the first paragraph says the following) > [@](#): > > Warning > Before we begin, a word of caution: Go down this road and you will loose money. Now I don’t usually hop on the grammar/spelling pedantry train too often, but I’ve seen this error even in _published books_. What the hell people? It’s not hard. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/2 "2010-12-01T16:44:53Z")
I mostly blame spell check. If you’re typing away, and you don’t see any of your words with that squiggly underline thingy, you think you’re good to go. You’re letting the software do your proofreading for you, and that doesn’t work so hot when you misspell a word as another legitimate word. I drive my wife nuts, because I catch errors like that all the time in all kinds of printed materials. I used to be a newspaper ad proofreader … guess that’s one reason why those jump out at me. Makes me feel like Holly Hunter in Broadcast News … “It must be nice to be right all the time!” “No, it’s awful.” ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/3 "2010-12-01T16:48:09Z")
Yeah, but this particular mistake is _so_ common that I think in most cases it’s not a simple case of “oops. typo” but that the person genuinely didn’t know the difference between the two words. That’s what bugs me about it. ETA: looks like it’s been corrected already. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/4 "2010-12-01T16:49:08Z")
If you think that’s weird I heard a radio commercial awhile back where the guy mispronounced “suite”. You think that even if the people who wrote the commercial didn’t know the difference the guy doing the commercial would. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/5 "2010-12-01T16:55:23Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > If you think that’s weird I heard a radio commercial awhile back where the guy mispronounced “suite”. 😕soo-tee? swit? swit-ee? soo-eh-tee? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/6 "2010-12-01T16:56:59Z")
That’s one of the internet biggies right there, along with confusing “breaks” for “brakes”, “whinging” for “whining” and my all time favorite, “noone” for “no one”. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/7 "2010-12-01T17:01:30Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > That’s one of the internet biggies right there, along with confusing “breaks” for “brakes”, “whinging” for “whining” and my all time favorite, “noone” for “no one”. “Whinging” is the British/European/WTF-Ever English version of “whining,” though I’ll admit I find it annoying when an American uses it. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/8 "2010-12-01T17:01:44Z")
What are you whinging (but I would prefer the spelling whingeing) about? 😉 It’s a proper British word. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/9 "2010-12-01T17:13:01Z")
Of course, all you need to do is have a look at the reader comments section in just about any newspaper for your head to completely explode. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/10 "2010-12-01T17:13:10Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > “Whinging” is the British/European/WTF-Ever English version of “whining,” though I’ll admit I find it annoying when an American uses it. > [@Floater](#): > > What are you whinging (but I would prefer the spelling whingeing) about? 😉 It’s a proper British word. Weird. Over here in the colonies noone uses it, its too lose of an interpretation. It brakes my heart, it does. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/11 "2010-12-01T17:18:09Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Weird. Over here in the colonies noone uses it, its too lose of an interpretation. It brakes my heart, it does. Fake. You used the correct form of “too”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/12 "2010-12-01T17:19:03Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Of course, all you need to do is have a look at the reader comments section in just about any newspaper for your head to completely explode. Yeah, but the reason I felt compelled to make a post about it is because this was the column writer doing it. You expect journalists to hold themselves to a higher standard. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/13 "2010-12-01T17:20:29Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Weird. Over here in the colonies noone uses it, its too lose of an interpretation. It brakes my heart, it does. I see what you did they’re. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/14 "2010-12-01T17:22:27Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Yeah, but the reason I felt compelled to make a post about it is because this was the column writer doing it. You expect journalists to hold themselves to a higher standard. Your write. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/15 "2010-12-01T17:23:23Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > 😕soo-tee? swit? swit-ee? soo-eh-tee? I’m thinking it was probably “suit”. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/16 "2010-12-01T17:28:32Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Fake. You used the correct form of “too”. 😉 Damn! :mad: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/17 "2010-12-01T17:33:34Z")
It would appear some folks had a bit of difficulty with cash, cache and cachet there for awhile, both in written and oral form, oft times asociated with a discussion of weapons stockpiles. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/18 "2010-12-01T17:39:36Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Holy shit. Nobody knows the difference between “lose” and “loose” any more. … and don’t even get me started on when people talk about their lieu’s stools. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/19 "2010-12-01T18:29:54Z")
Then there is “rein in”, often done as “reign in” And it’s “to the manor born” not “to the manner born” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547/20 "2010-12-01T18:42:52Z")
Well, it IS better to reign in Hell. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-shit-nobody-knows-the-difference-between-lose-and-loose-any-more/562547.md?page=2)