# It's LOSE, not LOOSE, goddamit! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2006, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581 "2006-07-22T05:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/21 "2006-07-22T16:15:29Z")
Your the looser. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/22 "2006-07-22T16:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] I’m bothered by it, and by **Carlyjay** ’s “breath”/“breathe” thing, among others, because the two words _sound_ different. So when I’m reading something where someone used the wrong word/spelling, I hear that wrong word in my head, and it sounds really jarring, like somebody hitting an obviously wrong note in a song. [/QUOTE] Bingo. It’s not just a wrong spelling, it’s a different word. I usually have to back up and re-read the sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/23 "2006-07-22T16:21:09Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] When I’m hiring English professors, for example (something I do with increasing frequency), it’s so helpful of candidates to weed themselves out for me on their cover letter. Misspelling a single word on a cover letter speaks as eloquently as signing and notorizing a statement like “I am a slacker with low standards of perfectionism and I don’t really want this job badly enough to spend a few minutes proofreading this letter. Please do not hire me.” [/QUOTE] Frankly, if you really do have this attitude, I wouldn’t _want_ to work for you. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/24 "2006-07-22T16:21:52Z")
This from the blurb on the cover of the DVD _Hideous Kinky_ given away recently by the (London)\* Sunday Times\*, and bearing its logo. “… But her selfish determination may actually cause her to **loose** what she loves most”. Not what you would expect from such a respected newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/25 "2006-07-22T16:26:14Z")
‘Where you come from, uh… Where I come from, uh… Where you come from, this song is called “Born To Lose.” But where I come from this song is called “Born Too Loose!”’ [right]-Johnny Thunders[/right] ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/26 "2006-07-22T16:34:19Z")
I would’ve been more into this particular rant had I not encountered the following sign in Bucheon Friday evening: > [@](#): > > Let,s enjoy English! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/27 "2006-07-22T16:46:01Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Frankly, if you really do have this attitude, I wouldn’t _want_ to work for you. [/QUOTE] But are you an English professor? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/28 "2006-07-22T16:56:45Z")
No, but I work with words and language, and I probably could have been an English prof if not for my “low standards of perfectionism.” Perfectionism is desirable in surgery, marksmanship, and navigation; in most other things, it’s an expression of pettiness and insecurity. FWIW, I happen to be a phenomenally good speller. My typical mistakes are typos, usually in easy words like “form” (from) or “voer” (over). ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/29 "2006-07-22T16:59:55Z")
Others that cause me to stumble when I’m reading: rational/rationale moral/morale peek/peak/pique (Don’t try to peek my interest, you perv!) These mistakes don’t really bother me unless they’re in a poem. Then I get cranky. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/30 "2006-07-22T17:05:13Z")
There are signs all over my neighborhood for one of those “we sell your stuff on eBay” services, like in _The 40-Year-Old Virgin_. The headline reads, “ **Find Out If Your Sitting On a Fortune!** ” I’ve been whipping out my pen and correcting them as I pass. ---
**Author:** ![shizaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@shizaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shizaru)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/31 "2006-07-22T17:13:45Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Frankly, if you really do have this attitude, I wouldn’t _want_ to work for you. [/QUOTE] As in the job for an ENGLISH professor? I think its perfectly reasonable for a mispelling on the cover sheet application for that job would deep six an applicant’s part in getting it. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/32 "2006-07-22T17:32:31Z")
I had a Kerry/Edwards campaign sticker in the back window of my car during the 2004 election. The day after the election, I find that someone wrote on my very dirty window (with their finger), directly under the sticker: “LOOSER!”. You know, if Kerry had been looser, I really think he may have won. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/33 "2006-07-22T17:55:42Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Nitpick: “To loose,” Lautrec, also has a transitive meaning, something like "to release from confinement or restraint: “Cry havoc, and loose the dogs of war!” Colloquial English usually uses “to let loose” instead. Other than that, excellent rant on a minor but annoying quasi-homonym error. [/QUOTE] Then there was the comment from his art teacher about his painting style: “Too loose, Lautrec”. The rest is histary. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/34 "2006-07-22T17:59:30Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] There are signs all over my neighborhood for one of those “we sell your stuff on eBay” services, like in _The 40-Year-Old Virgin_. The headline reads, “ **Find Out If Your Sitting On a Fortune!** ” I’ve been whipping out my pen and correcting them as I pass. [/QUOTE] I love you. At the very least, you’re my hero for today. 🙂 Was it Lynne Truss who advocated taking a big red marker while out and about, just for the grammatical/spelling crimes one encounters? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/35 "2006-07-22T18:03:15Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > My nettle is its/it’s, but that really can be difficult sometimes. 😕 It can? It’s totally unambiguous, there’s a clear line (between possessive and contraction), it’s just one difference between just two words unlike they’re/there/their–is it really difficult? I don’t mean to belittle your accomplishment, but of the language gaffes, this seems like the easiest one to fix, to me. > [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Frankly, if you really do have this attitude, I wouldn’t want to work for you. Why not? I have little formal training in English–two freshman-level classes for college credit, one taken at a high school–and I’ve never submitted a resume or application with a spelling error, and probably very few to no grammar errors (and I’ve submitted a good number of them for various things). I’m not saying I’m infallible; I’ve been known to put the wrong year on the date line and have to scratch it out and make an ugly mess, or put down the wrong ZIP code for my address, or mess up some detail of my previous employer info. But I didn’t go to school for up to 12 years to learn all that. > [@Beware of Doug](#): > > FWIW, I happen to be a phenomenally good speller. My typical mistakes are typos, usually in easy words like “form” (from) or “voer” (over). That sounds like an easy thing to fix between your spell check and searching manually through your document with a list of common typos by your side (which you can easily find through a Google search, or create by yourself based on the typos you know you make a lot). An applicant refusing to spend five minutes doing those simple things says a lot about their desire for the job. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/36 "2006-07-22T18:05:50Z")
[QUOTE=Savannah] I love you. At the very least, you’re my hero for today. 🙂 Was it Lynne Truss who advocated taking a big red marker while out and about, just for the grammatical/spelling crimes one encounters? [/QUOTE] Our local paper ran a feature a few weeks ago about various shop and street signs around town, concentrating on misuse of the apostrophe. My favourite was from a very up-market food shop - “Fresh Farm Egg’s” ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/37 "2006-07-22T18:11:09Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] Of course I’ve let a few typoes slip by me in cover letters from time to time, and I wasn’t hired for those jobs, quite properly. And my typoes on the Straight Dope are too numerous to count. [/QUOTE] I think you’ll find that the plural of _typo_ is _typos_. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/38 "2006-07-22T18:12:25Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] An applicant refusing to spend five minutes [proofreading/spellchecking/etc.] says a lot about their desire for the job. [/QUOTE] Well…I never said I _don’t._ I just wouldn’t want to work for someone so petty as to proofread every cover letter before even skimming a single CV. That to me say, “I care about the small stuff more than the big stuff.” ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/39 "2006-07-22T18:13:55Z")
And to the first one to point out the typo in the above post: **THIS MEANS YOU!** ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581/40 "2006-07-22T18:31:02Z")
😃 Anyway, would you expect to be hired as a chemistry professor if you’d forgotten the Ideal Gas Law, which you learned in Chemistry 101? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-lose-not-loose-goddamit/365581.md?page=3)