Why do so many people have problems spelling the word "lose"?

Question

I started seeing this problem about 4 years ago. People "lose" things (as in lost). People do not "loose" things (as in not tight). I even saw this error in an AP news report. Why can't we spell?

chimebear - I used not tight as an example of loose. Thanks for all of the definitions of loose. Thanks also for not answering the question.

Answer 1

EXCELLENT question!!
I wish I had a dollar for every question about "loosing" weight.

I think a lot of it comes from over-reliance on spell-check.
That helps with SPELLING, but not proper use of a word in a particular context.

We have a quality manager that repeatedly puts up slides in meetings about our "roll" in the company.
It verges on ridiculous!

Answer 2

I think "CHOOSING" is largely to blame.

First, it's not that hard to understand why people would not 'naturally' use the double o here, even if they know it's correct.. How many other words can you name in which the u sound is made by a single o ? On the other hand, "oo" represents that sound in MANY words. So, when someone is writing quickly, and not specifically looking out for that mistake (even if, when pressed, they do know about it), they easily fall into the 'default' spelling for this sound.

Add to this the fact that it rhymes with "choose", which ends with the 'more expected spelling', and the error is easy to understand. (The same facts explain the reverse mistake of writing/typing "loose" when you want "lose".)

It is, in fact, exceedingly odd for a switch from a single to double vowel to change NOT the sound of the vowel but of the following consonant!

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Again, the mistake is easier to make because BOTH "lose" AND "loose" are legitimate words (as also "chose" and "choose", though in that case the change in vowel sounds helps people avoid interchanging them a bit more easily). Consider that for 'goose', 'moose' and 'caboose' there ARE no alternate words with a single o. If you see what you're writing at all, those CAN'T "look right".

Related to this -- spell-check feels the same way about it! It WILL catch a mistake in spelling "goose", but with "lose"/"loose" it 'sees' the two words and recognizes them AS legitimate words, so does not alert us of the mistake. And the very fact that we HAVE spell-check contributes to the problem. Even those who DO care about spelling often rely on spell-check --which will NOT catch this mistake-- to catch silly typos. This makes it a little less likely they'll do their own careful re-reading, and more likely that folks who are not totally ignorant of the issues might make this sort of mistake.

Compare this to mistyping common homophones, e.g., 'your' for 'you're', 'their' for 'there' and vice versa. In many cases, esp. if you're a fast typist, 'the fingers take over' and type the easier or more common letter pattern. Don't you do that with some words? If you watch carefully or re-read, you'll probably catch it, but even then not always, since it's easy with proof-reading our own material to 'see' what we EXPECT to see, instead of what's there.

Answer 3

I don't know. I'm a big fan of using correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but I find myself typing the word "lose" wrong all the time. Every time I go to type it, for whatever reason, I end up typing "loose" instead. It's a typing error, one that spellcheck won't find and even MS Word's grammar check doesn't always catch it. Skimming over my work for errors, which I tend to do obsessively, doesn't always catch that particular error either, because I tend to read what I think should be there rather than what actually is, especially if I've read over something enough that I've memorized what I think I've written down.

Answer 4

I'm really smart, so I don't have that problem, hehe.

In reality though, the English language is not easy. It's quite complicated, just ask anyone who has tried to learn it as a second language. We all think that just because we grew up speaking it, we know all the ins and outs of spelling and grammar. It's just not that simple.

More emphasis should be placed on grammar in school. I hardly remember learning the rules of grammar. All teachers did was give us 20 words a week to memorize and then we'd have a spelling test. Well...that's not very helpful when you can't even properly use the words in a sentence, now is it?

Answer 5

You actually can 'loose' something (meaning to set it free) but I am also ticked off when I see people use 'loose' when they have lost something.

If you do not loose the hounds soon, you will lose the prey.

'Then' used instead of 'than' and 'it's' (=it is) used to denote the possessive form of 'it' are another couple that bug me.

Answer 6

it incredibly is the bloody English language. 'i' and 'e' are back to front and front to back in different words. I previously E different than after C would not save on with in each case, extraordinarily this one. the two that or the non secular understand that misspellings extremely annoy those knowledgeable atheists

Answer 7

loose is not just the opposite of tight.

1 a : not rigidly fastened or securely attached b (1) : having worked partly free from attachments (2) : having relative freedom of movement c : produced freely and accompanied by raising of mucus d : not tight-fitting
2 a : free from a state of confinement, restraint, or obligation b : not brought together in a bundle, container, or binding c archaic : DISCONNECTED, DETACHED
3 a : not dense, close, or compact in structure or arrangement b : not solid : WATERY
4 a : lacking in restraint or power of restraint b : lacking moral restraint : UNCHASTE c : OVERACTIVE; specifically : marked by frequent voiding especially of watery stools
5 a : not tightly drawn or stretched : SLACK b : being flexible or relaxed
6 a : lacking in precision, exactness, or care b : permitting freedom of interpretation
7 : not in the possession of either of two competing teams
- loose·ly adverb
- loose·ness noun

Answer 8

cause were stupid! haha! jk! lmao! but its true, some of the world is really stupid!

Answer 9

Maybe they are all losers?

Answer 10

The more you 'score' the loser you get.