to post this spelling correction? LOSE to mean the loss of something

[Horsie]

I'm on a public-service mission to correct one of the world's most common misspellings. I've seen it thousands and thousands of times online. I think it must be the most misspelt word in the world. Saw it twice today just on Mumsnet.

No shade AT ALL. I literally want to help people look better in writing.

Here goes:

To lose something is spelt LOSE and not loose. Loose only ever means not tight, or to let something go, like a horse. I turned my horse loose. I hope I never lose him.

I'm losing the will to live.
I always lose competitions.
That person is a loser.

My jeans are loose.
My ring goes loosely over my knuckle.
I'm a loser wearing loose jeans.
I always lose my ring in the pool because it becomes loose.

I never realised how commonly this word was misspelt until the internet. I suppose because "lose" does sound like a double "O" with its oooo sound (as opposed to rhyming with hose). That's probably where the confusion comes in, and the wrong spelling is being perpetuated millions and millions of times because of the internet.

I wish someone like JK Rowling with a huge reach would tweet the correct spellings, as a public service. No one likes to look bad in writing.

So there you have it, folks. Write it down a hundred times.

Lose
Lose
Lose
Lose

LOOSE

Careful OP, people will mark you out as a lose cannon!

I’m sorry, I do agree with your post, this is a mistake that irritates me also.

It's not worth loosing any sleep over this OP.

Please don’t loose your mind for this

It doesn't annoy me, I just feel bad for people who get them confused, because they unintentionally look bad in writing. And I think more and more people misspell it because it's been so thoroughly perpetuated online. We must fight it! It's helpful to let people know it's wrong. A mistake like that could cost them the chance to have a job interview. I now correct someone wherever I see it, if I have the time.

Oh, stop it! 😂

Not helping! 😂

Go and stand in the corner! 😂

I'm on a public-service mission to correct one of the world's most common misspellings. I've seen it thousands and thousands of times online.

See I've seen threads like this thousands and thousands of time online and yet here you are, adding to them.

So I'd say you're wasting your time unfortunately.

There is a prominent poster on X who always makes this mistake and it seems petty to correct her on it when she’s making serious points, but I agree it’s irritating.

Whenever I spot these kinds of mistakes/typos, I read them in my head as such and it’s a huge distraction.

I guess it depends how many interviewers you believe would not give someone a job based on the incorrect use of lose/ loose.
If you think it is significant, then I guess you could argue to yourself that you are doing a public service.
If, like me, you would never consider this a dealbreaker, then you are probably just being annoyingly pedantic.
A post like this seems a reasonable compromise. Does it give you the right to go around correcting individual people though? Not in my book.

This.
I once heard the phrase, ‘grammar is a social construct from the more educated (and often wealthy) designed to make the less educated feel bad’. It really struck home.

Oh my God, this is my biggest bugbear right now, it's everywhere!
It's also quite recent; when the hell did people suddenly stop being able to use the correct word?!

Take your own advice.

Talk about putting a nasty spin on things. Wrong spellings can cost people the chance for a job interview. I posted purely as a PSA, and I've made that very clear in my two posts.

Do some regions pronounce them the same way? Is that why they get mixed up?

It depends on the job.

As for the "right," to correct, I believe I'm helping people not look bad in writing. I'm not correcting to be superior. Your (collective your) point is undermined by wrong spellings. I always say "for the future" and give a thumbs-up. Most people seem to be glad of the help, as I get thank-yous.

Misspelling common words is like going around with something on your face or your skirt tucked into your knickers. I would want someone to tell me, whether spelling or those two things.

Could well be!

I think it's because the internet has spread it, and it just gets perpetuated. Hence my campaign to help people look better in writing!

No.

I'm guilty of this. I'm fairly sure I am undiagnosed dyslexic because there are certain words I always have to look up because the vowels get jumbled - I'm over 40 - and I just can't seem to keep them in my brain. Some I have tricks for but others just never stay. I know this is one where I hesitate but then always do the sounding ooo's as you say and assume I've got it wrong and un-correct it! Sorry!

Autocorrect wont change it to the right one though.
When someone posts the wrong word like this, you know what they were trying to say. No point in being a pedantic arse about it.

But this isn't as complex as grammar. It's a simple misspelling of a very common word that's been perpetuated by the internet, which is why everyone now gets it wrong. We must fight it!

Or maybe the dictionary folk could give up and just change it!

I'm simply trying to help people look better in writing, because this misspelling is really everywhere. Amazed at the offence being taken. I would want someone to tell me, rather than keep on writing job applications/customer service letters/letters to my MP/Christmas cards/what have you, with the wrong spelling.

It's become far more common because thicker-than-pigshit phone spellchecks autocorrect lose used properly to loose, as if the former is a mistake and the latter is accurate. And people who trust spellcheck more than their own literacy skills assume it must be right.

Sorry you're offended. I think I'm helping people look better in writing.