Wigeon
Thu 25-Oct-12 12:28:48
Great! I am now 100% confirmed pedant and can merrily judge others when they misuse loose and lose!
Thank you all. 
iseenodust
Thu 25-Oct-12 10:56:13
There's a moose loose about this house - Scots accent req!
CatWithKittens
Thu 25-Oct-12 10:50:34
If you loose your goose you will lose it.
Loosing is a real word, but not one you will ever use.
The verb loose means "let loose, untie" as in loosing arrows or loosing livestock. You might loose your goose
I also remember that lose has the same beginning as lost.
poppyknot
Wed 24-Oct-12 21:41:14
Thanks to both of you. The Goose / Loose thing is brillinatly simple Greyt!
Wigeon
Wed 24-Oct-12 21:37:12
Ah ha! That's a good tip.
So
loose - not tight
lose - can't find it
losing - I'm losing my marbles
loosing - made-up word.
Right?
Greythorne
Wed 24-Oct-12 19:48:44
It's easy. Just think how you spell "goose". Now, that's a word you can't imagine getting wrong, I'm sure. Now, goose rhymes with loose. They sound the same and are spelt the same.
Voilà.
Wigeon
Wed 24-Oct-12 19:45:41
I am usually super-good at being a pedant - I always use apostrophes correctly, I never confuse your and you're, I can spell necessary, committee and so on, I know the difference between a counsellor and councillor or advice and advise, I never split my infinitives...but I have a big mental block when it comes to lose / loose type words. Especially "loosing" or "losing".
So lose - you can't find it
Loose - it isn't tight
but is it then
losing - I am losing my memory
loosing - word doesn't exist?
Help! How to remember?! There must be a little saying for it, like "i before e except after c". Any tips gratefully received.
