Never loose your keys/glasses again!
In English, "loose" means, of course, "not tight" or "slack" and is an adjective. In the context of the above heading, it might mean "release, to free up" but should be spelt [or spelled] "loosen" or "loosen up".
Paraphrased, the heading would say: "Never let your keys/glasses go slack again!"
Clearly, this spelling has now crossed the Atlantic to our fair shores because in America, "loose" is used instead of "lose" in English.
"Lose", in English, means: (v. i.) To suffer loss, disadvantage, or defeat; to be worse off, esp. as the result of any kind of contest.
If the Americans use the spelling "loose" for this, then why do they call a man who loses all the time a "loser"? I wonder if it's not time now for an Academie Anglais to take care of these things.
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And let's not even get started on there/their/they're and your/you're. Grrrr. Someone should develop an application for Facebook that allows you to get someone banned for a day for appallingly written Facebook status.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, I spotted a typo in the title of the Home Office's pretend citizenship test. They used the wrong spelling of "practice" (link).
Now that, Wonko, is an absolute no-no. Before looking - did they spell the verb as "practice" or the noun as "practise"?
ReplyDeleteAs an American, I must say that I have never used the word "loose" in place of the word of the word "lose." I do not think that this is acceptable usage even here.
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting to read, Will, so where is this spelling coming from?
ReplyDeleteThere are certain things which really get me. I don't mean at all the way you guys drop the "u" from color, use one "l" in traveling or write skilfull with both final "l"s - those are defined differences.
I mean real misspellings or wrong usage in both our versions of the language - Wonko gave an example.
I want to know why ya'll still keep insisting on putting all those vowels in all those medical words, eg foetus ;)
ReplyDeleteI to havnt sene "loose" swicht with "lose" in even wun ov r 57 states. "Luz" and "lus" wud solv this problem in any event. Or spelcheker.
ReplyDeleteTecumseh rulz.
I want to know why ya'll still keep insisting on putting all those vowels in all those medical words, eg foetus ;)
ReplyDeleteBecause we're literate on this side of the Atlantic ... mostly.
James, they used the verb spelling in the title when it should have been the noun spelling.
HGF - From:
ReplyDeletehttp://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/09/ae-oe-and-e.html
Let's start with some history. As Oedipal hints, most of these can be traced back to Greek, then to Latin, then to English. Greek oi became Latin œ (with a ligature between the letters) became, more commonly, oe in contemporary (post-typewriter) English.
In Latin and English, oe and ae are pronounced as a single sound (which sound is another matter, and can vary from case to case), rather than as two vowel syllables or as diphthongs, i.e. a combined vowel sound. (Still, because they're written as two vowels, many people refer to them as diphthongs--but they should be calling them digraphs instead.)
The simplification of ae and oe to e is present in Noah Webster's dictionaries (late 18th/early 19th c.), but I'm not sure whether the shift (like many others) originated with him or not, as it's not mentioned in any of his spelling reform documents that I've found.
It's tempting to believe the kind of advice given below from Ask Oxford's Better Writing guide (as well as other sources on BrE/AmE differences), that:
British English words that are spelled with the double vowels ae or oe (e.g. archaeology, manoeuvre) are just spelled with an e in American English (archeology, maneuver).
But as the_sybil has discovered, there are cases in which ae and oe are not reduced to e in AmE, including:
* many names and derivatives of them, whether from Greek/Latin or not (Disraeli, Michael, Caedmon, Aelfric, Caesar/Caesarean, Oedipus/Oedipal)
* a few ae words that are not from Greek/Latin (at least not directly) and in which ae is usually pronounced as a diphthong (maelstrom, maestro)
* some recent-ish borrowings from French and other languages with oe: oeuvre, hors d'oeuvres, trompe l'oeil
* the Latin feminine, plural suffix -ae, as in (predominantly AmE) alumnae, lacunae, ulnae, etc.
* words with aer(o)- as a prefix or root: aerial, aerosol, aerodrome (but, of course, aeroplane is almost always airplane in AmE).
* some Scottish English words, and words from Gaelic: Gaelic, nae, brae, etc.
* (Probably not worth mentioning, but words that end in oe like toe and shoe are never reduced to e in AmE, since the vowel sound here is /o/ or /u/or similar. And, of course, the oe that straddles a morpheme boundary in 3rd person verbs and plurals like goes and potatoes are not reduced to e.)
Xlbrl - Shawnee, eh?
Wonko - right.
ReplyDeleteHi James,
ReplyDeletequite interesting, thank you.
W,
thank you, at least, for the disclaimer of 'mostly'...
I believe the use of loose for lose is coming from morons. And I, for one, love the "extra" vowels and consonants in "British" spelling, often using them myself.
ReplyDeleteWill
ReplyDeleteno doubt the loose = lose is similar to the verbal 'axe' a question.
And, yes the extra vowels and consonants is a quaint custom left over from the 'old' country... ;)
(please note the " ;) " ya'll , before feathers get all ruffled...)
Y'all giving me a headache. :)
ReplyDeleteUber,
ReplyDeletehaha, ah tis interesting to know the roots of things, hen.
Sit yersel down for a spell, have some sweet tea. Ya'll feel in no time... ;)
"I believe the use of loose for lose is coming from morons."
ReplyDeleteWill is correct; some of the chuckleheads in this country couldn't spell their own names without checking their drivers license.