What's up with 'lose' and 'loose' ?

[Kiteh]

Am I the only one that gets annoyed by this?

i.e:

[07:59:35] [B] [85:Player1:3]: And it's 'Lose' not 'loose'

[08:00:06] [B] [85:Player2:1]: quite certain it isn't, but english is not my native tongue

/rant

No naming & shaming here.

[Kevyne-Shandris]

Why is it even worth the time to be mad about spelling, while a person dies suffering in the world, instead?

Sometimes I wish I could just shake this world, to see how stupid it has become that words are more important than a life.

Mod Edit: Please don't try to derail the thread like that. This isn't about the importance of grammar over starvation, this is just about grammar, and some people's lack of it.

[Flatspriest]

Those are both words in the english language, but they also have different meanings. Lose means you fail. Loose means not tight.

[Priestion]

"Lose" is the opposite of "win". "Loose" is the opposite of "tight"... Not sure if that's what you were asking. :P

[Deleted]

More annoying is using then instead of than, or vice versa. Also some people say should/would/could of sup daawg

[Slanderize]

Why is it even worth the time to be mad about spelling, while a person dies suffering in the world, instead?

Sometimes I wish I could just shake this world, to see how stupid it has become that words are more important than a life.

Words mean a lot more than a life because without words lives wouldn't have ever started to mean anything to begin with. Words are what separate us from animals, our written language. It's not our ability to communicate, all sorts of shit on this planet communicates with each other, we can write our knowledge down, though. THAT is amazing when you think about it, well to me it is anyway. Bastardization of any language is a horrible thing.

[KCguy]

I see the word 'lose' spelled as 'loose' so much it's not even funny. The weird thing is if you look up the most common misspelled words, it's not really on there. It's such an easy word to figure out. It's not like 'than' and 'then' like someone mentioned. That's tougher to figure out for a lot of people.

[Kaleredar]

<snip>

As for "lose" vs "loose," it has been said previously: to "lose" is to fail or not win. "loose" describes something as being... not tight. "loose" rhymes with "goose," "moose," etc. Just something you have to commit to memory. Like to, too, two, they're, their, there, and so on.

[Deleted]

Welcome to the wonders of the internet.

With the usage of the internet, it comes natural that you _have_ to learn english.
A lot of different nationalities are spreads amongst the users of the internet, and when they learn the word "lose" (Or rather, the meaning of it), and they have to use it again, they might become in doubt about which spelling is correct.
For many languages, it seems more natural to spell it "loose", and as such, many people started spelling it "loose" because other people would write it like that with complete confidence.

Vicious chain!

[Deleted]

I see the word 'lose' spelled as 'loose' so much it's not even funny. The weird thing is if you look up the most common misspelled words, it's not really on there. It's such an easy word to figure out. It's not like 'than' and 'then' like someone mentioned. That's tougher to figure out for a lot of people.

Yeah, that's pretty much my biggest problem within the English language...
I can use "their, there, they're" and "to, two, too" perfectly, but I have quite a problem with "then, than", which is my fault though... seeing as I didn't really care about finding out when to use what before >_>

But "lose" vs. "loose" is really a no-brainer... but that's what you get from todays population, being corrupted by Twitter and Facebook. (I'm not against Twitter, it just helps people demolishing the languages)

PS: Something I'm also perfect at is the use of "s, ss, ß" in german. It's way worse than "they're, there and their"... It's really simple though, so I really don't understand how so many germans just don't get it... mindblowing >_>

[Kaleredar]

Yeah, that's pretty much my biggest problem within the English language...
I can use "their, there, they're" and "to, two, too" perfectly, but I have quite a problem with "then, than", which is my fault though... seeing as I didn't really care about finding out when to use what before >_>

"then" describes the timing or nature of an event, so to speak. "I did this THEN that." "Well, I went to the bank first, and THEN I went to the store."

"than," on the other hand, often describes a preference: "I would rather swim THAN hike."

[Deleted]

Oh no! A screw is loose, if I don't tighten it I might lose it.

[Chaochamp]

I saw a signature on someone's profile awhile ago, and it read "Ever since the invention of the internet, the Earth has been completely fueled by English teachers rolling in their graves." (Or something like that)

Moral of the story: Interwebz = Bad grammarz.

[endersblade]

There are a million different things like this that I see every day that drive me up the freaking grammar nazi wall. I just can't believe that people care so little about what sort of image they have in other people's eyes based on how they 'speak' on teh interwebz. Having typos is one thing; doing it because you're fucking lazy, or basically just failed English in school, is something entirely different. It's not the people who don't natively speak English I care about; it's usually easy to see when someone isn't a native English speaker, never mind the fact they usually mention it. It's the people who do it simply to troll people like me, or do it because they think they're cool, or because apparently leaving one one or two letters makes typing more expedient. When you're a hunt-n-pecker, I can't imagine 'u' being all that much easier to type than 'you'.

Some off the top of my head that drive me nuts:

r, are
u, you
than, then
lose, loose
whine, wine
your, you're, ur
there, their, they're
c, see
plz, please
wat, wut, what
w8, wait (oh dear god, when people start using numbers in their words, I want to kill something.)

If you're texting people on a phone, I can sort of understand some of the abbreviated words. But when you're on a full-blown keyboard, there's absolutely no reason for it. Want to save time, or don't have time to type because you're doing something? Use a freaking mic, teamspeak, ventrillo, skype, whatever. That way, people can HEAR how retarded you are, instead of surmising it based on your l33t typing skillz.
And on a similar note, people who say PST please. That's like saying ATM machine: Automatic Teller Machine machine. Please Send Tell Please. WTF, really?

[eriseis]

Why is it even worth the time to be mad about spelling, while a person dies suffering in the world, instead?

Sometimes I wish I could just shake this world, to see how stupid it has become that words are more important than a life.

Mod Edit: Please don't try to derail the thread like that. This isn't about the importance of grammar over starvation, this is just about grammar, and some people's lack of it.

I sometimes disagree with you, but we're on the same side.

The "starvation" comment might be hyperbolic, but its intended message is what matters.

Now. Incoming criticisms and fallacies about language which fail to follow deeper and less clear rules of prescriptive grammar.

[strangebreed]

don't really see why it bothers anyone. I accidently typo often in game, loose and lose would be a easy one to do that to, hitting or missing a o. As long as i can understand what the person meant i don't care how they spell one or two words. Now if its ever single word -.- but it would only be annoying. Honestly though if i'm in the middle of a raid boss and you wisp me and expect me to go back and fix my typos , you may ....... me. If you really get mad about a few misspelled or misused words but completely understood what the person said you've got some problems, even misunderstanding isn't really a reason to be mad just ask them to go back and fix what they said by saying "what?". If its a random person in trade chat well don't pay attention to him gosh.

[Haizer]

Am I the only one that gets annoyed by this?

i.e:

[07:59:35] [B] [85:Player1:3]: And it's 'Lose' not 'loose'

[08:00:06] [B] [85:Player2:1]: quite certain it isn't, but english is not my native tongue

/rant

I agree with you Kiteh, it is very annoying. At first when I had seen it I thought it was just a typo, like someones keyboard accidentally double clicked the o button. After seeing it multitudes of times across months it got very annoying, and frustrating to read tbh. Of course some people don't grasp the English language like native speakers do, and we can't look down on them for that. The best thing to do would be to educate them nicely and move on. You would be surprised by how much better you will feel by educating them than insulting them, which most people apparently don't realize.

[eriseis]

Words mean a lot more than a life because without words lives wouldn't have ever started to mean anything to begin with. Words are what separate us from animals, our written language. It's not our ability to communicate, all sorts of shit on this planet communicates with each other, we can write our knowledge down, though. THAT is amazing when you think about it, well to me it is anyway. Bastardization of any language is a horrible thing.

Don't speak English, then. The language has gone through so much change or "bastardization" it's not even funny.

I refer to my classic example: "Cherry" is bastardization (or re-analysis) of "cherries", which was meant to be used for both singular and plural.

---------- Post added 2012-02-26 at 04:26 AM ----------

I agree with you Kiteh, it is very annoying. At first when I had seen it I thought it was just a typo, like someones keyboard accidentally double clicked the o button. After seeing it multitudes of times across months it got very annoying, and frustrating to read tbh. Of course some people don't grasp the English language like native speakers do, and we can't look down on them for that. The best thing to do would be to educate them nicely and move on. You would be surprised by how much better you will feel by educating them than insulting them, which most people apparently don't realize.

Everyone bothered by misspellings has to backtrack and consider: are you really bothered by the misspelling or by the attitude of the misspeller and your pre-judgemental opinion of the subject?

[Tokas]

More annoying is using then instead of than, or vice versa. Also some people say should/would/could of sup daawg

this and to/too

[eriseis]

There are a million different things like this that I see every day that drive me up the freaking grammar nazi wall. I just can't believe that people care so little about what sort of image they have in other people's eyes based on how they 'speak' on teh interwebz. Having typos is one thing; doing it because you're fucking lazy, or basically just failed English in school, is something entirely different. It's not the people who don't natively speak English I care about; it's usually easy to see when someone isn't a native English speaker, never mind the fact they usually mention it. It's the people who do it simply to troll people like me, or do it because they think they're cool, or because apparently leaving one one or two letters makes typing more expedient. When you're a hunt-n-pecker, I can't imagine 'u' being all that much easier to type than 'you'.

Some off the top of my head that drive me nuts:

r, are
u, you
than, then
lose, loose
whine, wine
your, you're, ur
there, their, they're
c, see
plz, please
wat, wut, what
w8, wait (oh dear god, when people start using numbers in their words, I want to kill something.)

If you're texting people on a phone, I can sort of understand some of the abbreviated words. But when you're on a full-blown keyboard, there's absolutely no reason for it. Want to save time, or don't have time to type because you're doing something? Use a freaking mic, teamspeak, ventrillo, skype, whatever. That way, people can HEAR how retarded you are, instead of surmising it based on your l33t typing skillz.
And on a similar note, people who say PST please. That's like saying ATM machine: Automatic Teller Machine machine. Please Send Tell Please. WTF, really?

Mic? Why abbreviate that? You have a full keyboard. Also: Ventrilo, not "ventrillo"; Skype not "skype".