prillalar | Language is a lossy format.

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Language is a lossy format.

I am normally mild-mannered and tolerant and have in fact grown less rather than more curmudgeonly over the years. I pass over "discrete encounter" with consummate grace. I smile gently at "should of". I was positively delighted by "quadtriple bypass".

But when I see people write "loose" when they mean "lose", I want to buy a shotgun.

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Would you shoot through the extra "o" ?

I think the buckshot might make that difficult. *g*

I love the title of this post. (:

I'm less forgiving than you about this, as you know, but I suspect my blood pressure would be lower if I could adopt your attitude -- "loose"/"lose" is just one of the things that makes me want a shotgun.

Considering I saw the annoying error in the comments on an article on JPEG compression, it seemed appropriate.

And I can really recommend not being annoyed by stuff. It's made my life a lot better.

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laurashapiro.livejournal.com - 2005-07-28 18:42 (UTC) - Expand

If you had a rocket launcher...

Or even a red pen that would work on web pages!

Yes. I hate that, although there are some things I can overlook.

Most things I can overlook. I don't know why this one pings me. Hmm.

I concur and suggest some form of bird- or buckshot for maximum pain infliction.

The upside is that "I don't want to loose you!" can all too often be an unintentionally hilarious statement when the protestor is the control freak in the relationship.

Hee! You're right.

How do you feel about "wonderment"? Drives me batshit.

I can't say I've seen that one, at least not recently. I don't think it gets used on Slashdot a lot. *g*

Damn, and there I would never have made the three mistakes you strangely enough don't mind.

Oh, there are lots that I don't mind, so never fear. :)

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http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/ - 2005-07-29 01:18 (UTC) - Expand

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prillalar - 2005-07-29 07:47 (UTC) - Expand

Now I'm trying to come up with sentences in which "loose" and "lose" are interchangeable. Hmm.

The coach decided not to retire, as he didn't want to let his team loose/lose.

Almost?

Discrete encounters (noun) - encounters which take place in motels with hourly rates.

*laugh* A good effort!

Particle Beam Weapon.

*nods*

It's Adjective vs. Verb. Which will win?

Just like Godzilla against Mecha-Godzilla!

I smile gently at "should of".

I just saw that in a pro novel by a bestselling author with over 20 published novels. Gah.

Okay, I might not have smiled at that one.

...*blinks* Wonder what a quadtriple bypass is. Is that like a two-four?

Mmm...beer.

For me it's "adverse" in place of "averse" and "taunt" instead of "taut", mostly.

Or "your fic sucks!" in place of "you are a god!"

Re: I hear you, sister.

inapickle.livejournal.com - 2005-07-28 21:53 (UTC) - Expand

Re: I hear you, sister.

prillalar - 2005-07-29 07:46 (UTC) - Expand

"He was finding it hard to breath." <==shotgun worthy.

(Also, "weary" as this portmanteau combination of "wary" and "leery." Mama spank.)

I'm not so hard on breath/breathe; I do that myself by accident a lot. (Of course, I proofread.)

Also, "weary" as this portmanteau combination of "wary" and "leery." Mama spank.

You make me want to err on purpose. :)

Ah, but the loose/lose pair violates some basic generalizations of English spelling, specicially vowel length and <s>-voicing, so as a typo it's easy to understand. The "correct" (read: consistant) spelling for the pair should be "looce/loose," except that looks funny. "luce/luse," maybe?

For what it's worth, I think "luse" was once a common spelling variant (by "once" I mean "sometime around the Elizabethan era").

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mad_maudlin - 2005-07-28 16:19 (UTC) - Expand

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prillalar - 2005-07-28 18:31 (UTC) - Expand

Verb, Transitive. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/kageygirl/17448.html)

Hee!

I see your loose/lose and raise you one: "waist" and "waste". No, really- people actually *do* this. It gives you lovely sentences like "Kaidoh got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waste." Try getting *that* burning image out of your head in a jiffy.

OK, I didn't HAVE that burning image in my head until NOW when you posted in the COMMENT.

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i-smile.livejournal.com - 2005-07-28 18:53 (UTC) - Expand

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prillalar - 2005-07-28 18:59 (UTC) - Expand

You know, when I was in highschool and just discovering the Internet, I genuinely thought that 'loose' was the American spelling of 'lose' because I saw it so often.

*laugh* I don't blame you a bit.

I've been seeing things in a particular magazine of late. Not homophones or similar spellings, but things like "limpid" for "limp". It burns.

Yeah, in actual professional material, it is to burn. People's comments, not so much.

Taunt for taut. I dream of firing ranges over that one.

Hee! I saw one the other day about someone's "dusty nipples". Of course, they had just been setting up a tent, so maybe they were.

"Lead" as the past tense of the verb "to lead" (this one especially infuriates me because now I catch myself doing this, too); "pour" rather than "pore"; "taunt"--or even "taught"--rather than "taut"; and confusion between "phase" and "faze" are all unforgivable in my book.

Also, I'm somewhat blasé with regard to people who use "discrete" when they ought to use "discreet," but "discreete" makes me want to hurl things.

I know, it's hard to avoid! I re-read this post a jillion times before adding it, in case I'd made some stupid error of my own in it.

I completely understand phonetic/homophonic misspelling. Somehow, though, I can't figure out how people cofuse "loose" and "lose". They don't sound at all alike to me.

I could go berserk when it comes to then/than. These two are *so* obvious and yet I've read entire stories with "then" used for comparisons. That just... hurts.

English is my second language, I'm a bit dyslexic and I can't find typos to safe my life but if a word means something different entirely, even *I* will notice. And when I do, it pisses me off to no end. For the rest, I guess dyslexia is bliss.

Actually, I'm constantly amazed that people can communicate at all. It seems like such a dodgy business.

although I can usually suck it up if the story itself is good enough. But...and this is a big but....if you are writing man love in any way, shape, or form, please remember, it's a prostate, not a prostrate.... :D

Hee! I love that icon. And I think everyone should avoid the problem entirely by using the term "love button".

Re: I am a spelling geek....

starshine24mc.livejournal.com - 2005-07-29 17:39 (UTC) - Expand

I think the worst part of it all is that I've seen the misspellings so often now, that I find myself making the mistakes because I can't remember which is the right one. >.< Damn them for corrupting me as well!

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