Chowrangi

Is ‘lose’ the most misspelt word in English?

On this blog I have seen many authors in their posts and readers in the comments section spell lose as loose. When I visit other blogs I notice the same thing. Even people who write in near perfect English spell lose as loose. The only time when loose is used is while referring to the opposite of tight. Otherwise, it’s always lose. Lose your keys, lose a game, lose wealth, lose time, lose business etc. The past tense is lost. No one says loost while referring to the past so why say loose while referring to the present.

Now, don’t lose your head while reading this. Just spell it as lose.

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Mohammad Yusha

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17 responses to “Is ‘lose’ the most misspelt word in English?”

  1. Shakir Lakhani Avatar
    Shakir Lakhani

    Yusha is one of the better writers on this blog. Most of the others (including those who post comments) make mistakes. The new generation thinks it’s more important to make oneself understood, but the way a person writes or talks reveals a lot about his/her background. For instance, those who live in Karachi know that the Urdu spoken in Lyari is not the same as the Urdu spoken in Nazimabad.

    Reply
  2. Khurram Zahid Avatar
    Khurram Zahid

    @ Yusha, you shouldn’t be aggrasive. Native English speakers don’t mind when you write or speak wrong English. So why are you getting aggresive for English, Instead, it would be better if you go aggrasive when someone speaks or writes wrong URDU…

    Moreover, you shouldn’t blog if you can’t accept the negative comments…

    Reply
  3. Mohammad Yusha Avatar
    Mohammad Yusha

    @ Momina: The only reason I wrote the time was to let Hina know that I do not need to refer to links to write a short and simple post. I am talented enough to do so without referring to links, with the blessing of Allah SWT.

    I am not trying to teach anyone. I just pointed out a very common error made by bloggers and readers. I am not even in a position to teach anyone, since my English is not perfect.

    Reply
  4. Mohammad Yusha Avatar
    Mohammad Yusha

    @ Momina: It is a case of poor English, not confusion.

    @ Khurram: If your English is not Good, I recommend you work on it, instead of blaming the language. That kind of attitude is pathetic.

    @ Hina: Don’t agree with a pathetic statement just because you enjoy criticising me. (American: criticizing) Work on your grammer and spellings instead of blaming the language or finding excuses because American and British spellings happen to be different.

    Reply
  5. Momina Avatar
    Momina

    @ Brother Yusha: is it just me or is there really arrogance in your comment?
    first of all i don’t think any one is interested in how fast u wrote the post or your comments. maybe u r just trying to inform the public that u r knowledgeable about the English language. your knowledge is a good thing but ur arrogance has shattered its goodness. anyway, everyone has their style of writing. but really, if u r quick at pointing out mistakes u should be equally prompt in providing sources that would help people overcome their mistakes/shortcomings.

    if u want to teach something to someone, u don’t just say this is wrong and this is correct. u should have sense to accept it!

    that is a very silly way of teaching.

    Reply
  6. Momina Avatar
    Momina

    well yes, loose is when a thing is not very firm in attachment. this link would be helpful insha’Allah : http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loose

    @Brother Yusha: i don’t think it is misspelt, there is confusion associated with it.

    honestly, no one would have most of the mistakes if the education sector in Pakistan was efficient enough.

    @hina: the difference that is now encountered in the spelling of colour or judgement or favour etc…(the list would go on) is purely due to the difference in spellings in U.K. and U.S. Majority of websites and even Microsoft word have American English set as default. Colour and its likes are all correct according to U.K. English. This really is another cause of confusion. One of my classmates lost a lot of points in a competition because she was used to the American way of spelling words, whereas the authorities of the competition only followed the U.K. English.

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  7. Shakir Lakhani Avatar
    Shakir Lakhani

    @Hina: in the U.S., colour is spelt as “color”, honour as “honor”, etc.
    @ Khurram: English is not our mother tongue, but we should try to speak and write it like native English speakers do. There was a time when we had very good teachers of English, but not anymore, which is why you see so many mistakes made by writers nowadays.

    Reply
  8. Mohammad Yusha Avatar
    Mohammad Yusha

    It took me 5 minutes to write the above post. I don’t need to refer to some links to write something so simple. The difference between lose and loose is common sense. Just as the difference between losing (which is correct) and loosing (which is wrongly used).

    Colour is British while Color is American.

    Neighbour – Neighbor
    Rumour – Rumor
    Favourite – Favorite
    Practise – Practice
    Labelled – Labeled

    There is a difference between using an American spelling and a wrong spelling.

    This comment took me less than 5 minutes. Now don’t ask me to provide you with some links for this comment too!

    Reply
  9. Hina Safdar Avatar
    Hina Safdar

    Well I second Khurram on that and I believe it will be better if you can give some links about your findings. every language has its pros and cons. As we taught in school “Colour” but now when I write it spell checker prompt me to write “color”.

    Reply
  10. Khurram Zahid Avatar
    Khurram Zahid

    First, English is not our native language, therefore we are not guilty of making grammatical errors.

    Secondly, English is not as easy as we think, its quite complicated language. Wrong positioning of just a single word can change the meaning of entire sentence…

    Reply
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