Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Today's English lesson

Here's a lesson on an error I have seen countless times. This one's from Serendipity, an interesting free-thinker's web site, with whom I agree on some things and wholeheartedly disagree on others. Anyway, Serendipity has the right idea on this subject:

"loose" and "lose"


These words are often spelled incorrectly, but since they are pronounced differently it is easy to remember the correct spelling.

--"Loose lips sink ships" (World War II admonition to keep silent about military affairs.)

--"Win some, lose some." (Said with a shrug when things go wrong.)

--"Loose women welcome here." (Sign next to door of male college dormitory.)

--"Whoever wins, the people lose." (Said of the two candidates in the 2004 US presidential election, and more generally of all politicians who stand for election.)

To remember the correct spelling simply remember how the words are pronounced: A voiced "s" in "lose" (rhymes with "booze") and an unvoiced "s" in "loose" (rhymes with "goose"). Easy, no?

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