http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/TDelaney/5219 I had a request to do a little primer on the words "lose" and "loose" because the two words are often confused. Writers use lose for loose and loose for lose. How many times have you seen someone write, "He is going to loose his reputation," or "She acted lose at the party" ? Well, "lose" rhymes with the Spanish word "luz," which means light, but it also rhymes with Jews, booze, and that northern expression "youse" (youse guys)-- equivalent to the sourthern, "y'all." "Lose," according to Amercian Heritage Dictionary, means "to be deprived of ownership." That also means it is a verb: to lose. "Loose" is an adjective for the most part that means "not fastened or restrained." For example, "He is a loose canon." But the word can also be a verb in rare usage: " Loose the dogs." And on even rarer occasions, "loose" can be used as an adverb: "He acted loose." That last usage might indicate the person in question was drunk. "Loose" rhymes with moose, caboose, juice, duece, goose, and if you don't get this, maybe we ought to get the noose. When you write and if you have trouble with these two words, maybe you ought to sound it out to make sure you have the correct "L" word. Of course, when writing the two words, spell check won't be able to read your mind. So spell check will cowardly tell you "OK. This is correct." Not (as Shakespeare said so many years ago). Here's a little poetry from the Toastmasters "Toastmaster" magazine to conclude this : An Owed to the Spelling Checker Wee have a spelling checker. It came with hour PC. It plane lee marks four are revue Miss steaks wee can knot sea. By the way, the title of this blog was a parody on "lose" and "loose." -- Slainte!   I had a request to do a little primer on the words "lose" and "loose" because the two words are often confused. Writers use lose for loose and loose for lose. How many times have you seen someone write, "He is going to loose his reputation," or "She acted lose at the party" ? Well, "lose" rhymes with the Spanish word "luz," which means light, but it also rhymes with Jews, booze, and that northern expression "youse" (youse guys)-- equivalent to the sourthern, "y'all." "Lose," according to Amercian Heritage Dictionary, means "to be deprived of ownership." That also means it is a verb: to lose. "Loose" is an adjective for the most part that means "not fastened or restrained." For example, "He is a loose canon." But the word can also be a verb in rare usage: " Loose the dogs." And on even rarer occasions, "loose" can be used as an adverb: "He acted loose." That last usage might indicate the person in question was drunk. "Loose" rhymes with moose, caboose, juice, duece, goose, and if you don't get this, maybe we ought to get the noose. When you write and if you have trouble with these two words, maybe you ought to sound it out to make sure you have the correct "L" word. Of course, when writing the two words, spell check won't be able to read your mind. So spell check will cowardly tell you "OK. This is correct." Not (as Shakespeare said so many years ago). Here's a little poetry from the Toastmasters "Toastmaster" magazine to conclude this : An Owed to the Spelling Checker Wee have a spelling checker. It came with hour PC. It plane lee marks four are revue Miss steaks wee can knot sea. By the way, the title of this blog was a parody on "lose" and "loose." -- Slainte!   en-us Well done Sir and thank you.! http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/TDelaney/5219/#c_19486 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/TDelaney/5219/#c_19486 Well done Sir and thank you.! TIM: Please explain the difference between "shoot" and "chute" as in "the ropers waited for the calfs (calves) to be let out of the "shoot" (chute). Another spellchekkar? Who started this nonsense of inserting unneeded apostophes (') in PLURAL WORD'S (sic)? like, "The dog's ran down the street after the cat's rubber ball's. The cat's stole the ball's from the rat's." Then there're the ad's (sic) for SMOKE SAUSAGE, or SMOKE TURKEY. Are these COMMANDS or products? I've heard of SMOKED SAUSAGE AND SMOKED TURKEY but never knew how light 'em and do you inhale while you SMOKE 'em?   Like the old Benny Hill gag about the sign that said WET PAINT and the question was, "Is this an imperative or just informative?" http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/TDelaney/5219/#c_19570 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/TDelaney/5219/#c_19570 TIM: Please explain the difference between "shoot" and "chute" as in "the ropers waited for the calfs (calves) to be let out of the "shoot" (chute). Another spellchekkar? Who started this nonsense of inserting unneeded apostophes (') in PLURAL WORD'S (sic)? like, "The dog's ran down the street after the cat's rubber ball's. The cat's stole the ball's from the rat's." Then there're the ad's (sic) for SMOKE SAUSAGE, or SMOKE TURKEY. Are these COMMANDS or products? I've heard of SMOKED SAUSAGE AND SMOKED TURKEY but never knew how light 'em and do you inhale while you SMOKE 'em?   Like the old Benny Hill gag about the sign that said WET PAINT and the question was, "Is this an imperative or just informative?" Hi Rusty -- I'll address each of your suggestions in upcoming blogs. I had to laugh a bit at your imperative or informative question. There's a sign in my community: "Don't drive on road when wet" -- And, you know, I never have, when I'm wet, that is.  Thanks for the suggestions, You'll see them addressed here pretty soon.  -- Tim http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/TDelaney/5219/#c_19610 http://community.victoriaadvocate.com/home/Blog/TDelaney/5219/#c_19610 Hi Rusty -- I'll address each of your suggestions in upcoming blogs. I had to laugh a bit at your imperative or informative question. There's a sign in my community: "Don't drive on road when wet" -- And, you know, I never have, when I'm wet, that is.  Thanks for the suggestions, You'll see them addressed here pretty soon.  -- Tim