This is another of those mistakes that I’ve only seen since getting on WordPress. During my years in high school and college I never once heard of people mistaking these two words. Never. But the WordPress community has a life of its own and these two words seem to be a major part of it.
I don’t typically see “lose” written in place of “loose.” But I see the other way around ALL the time. And I just want to pull my hair out. I”m really starting to think that everyone on WordPress went to the same school and had the same teacher who never adequately explained some of the mistakes that I see made all the time. Because there are some mistakes that one would expect to be made every so often just as mistakes, but just about every post in this series is a mistake I would not expect to see made over and over again by bloggers who are constantly writing on their blogs. Sure not everyone writes well, but this isn’t about writing well. This is about elementary level mistakes that people seem to be completely unaware of.
I guess I’ll just have to keep “loosing” my mind about it to bring about some change and awareness. Do you ever see these two words used interchangeably?
On this day in 2014 I published Finally Overcoming the Inability to Write.
Johnny Reads 
That one drives me bonkers, too. I have a couple readers who catch my typos (which are typically just that… typos… not blatant misuse of words). I go back and fix them. Then I typically keep those mistakes in mind when proofing subsequent posts.
I had a friend-and-aspiring-author tell me a while back, “I’m really bad with grammar.” All I could think was… then go take a class. Read a book. Educate yourself. Improve. It’s fine to be wrong. But it’s not ok to keep repeating the same mistakes. Imagine if doctors waved off their inadequacies as easily as some writers do. “Bah, so I always miss when making that gall bladder incision. What’s an extra couple scars?”
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Haha I think you always have stories on these posts!
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I’m a writer… it’s pretty much in my blood to spew stories. LOL
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True statement.
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Righty tighty, lefty loosy, Loose lips sink ships. Uh… I’m losing it, John.
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Haha is that a teaching tool or something? Or just random words?
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I’ll admit that I saw this for the first time just after I finished my Master’s degree, on a fundraising mailing sent by the alumni association. I was working as an editor/publisher then, and remember turning red with sympathetic embarrassment for whoever paid to print and send it, standing there at the mailboxes and thinking “please don’t tell anyone you know me, let alone that I just paid you for education…” I’ve seen it much more frequently since.
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Haha that’s terrible. We’re the same. I honestly don’t think I saw it during high school or college and then I start blogging and I’m constantly hit in the face with it.
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It’s not just on WordPress. My wife teaches first year university English and this is a common mistake made by her students.
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Wow. What did they learn in school?
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It is really sad. Grade inflation is a huge problem. If I told you some of the most common and grevious errors that students in university make, you’d swear I was lying.
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No. I’ve seen them. And it makes you wonder how they could pass any class with writing. I remember people never wanting essays assigned and I was like…give me an essay over a test every single day of the week. Fun fact: I never studied for tests and wrote my essays in 4-6 hours the night before they were due. Would have been bad if I wasn’t the youngest in my graduating class. Haha
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Well, many of them are passing when they shouldn’t. Sigh. I wonder what the tipping point will be. How dumb, but with great self esteem, will the population become.
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I don’t think people who write poorly are dumb. They just can’t write. If we could read the emails sent between people in the sane business we’d see that MOST people write poorly. I’ve gotten so many emails that almost make no sense that it’s not funny.
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You have a point. Sort of. I guess I mean willful ignorance. It makes me loose my mind!
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I see what you did there. 😐
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I knew you would :-).
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Nothing gets by this guy.
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I have a friend who teaches first year and developmental English (the sub-100 level classes) at a University, too. She has shared some of what gets handed in (names redacted, of course). It’s kind of funny until you realize that these “kids” are in their late teens and early 20s. Even the students who can manage the grammar still can’t form a complete or coherent thought. I think it’s a skill they’ve stopped teaching in lower grades. You can’t standardize analytical analysis, so they just don’t bother.
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It’s not just on WordPress. My wife teaches first year university English and this is a common mistake made by her students.
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I agree with you about this one. No excuse like there/their/they’re for example.
Another one springs to mind … through/though/thorough.
All the best.
Also (you’ll like this) go to http://www.awritersden.wordpress.com and read the post about apostrophes.
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Thanks. I’ve actually already written about apostrophes too.
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Oops sorry! The Apostrophe post is on http://www.1951club.wordpress.com
Kris
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. 😉
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You’re welcome! 😁
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Choose/Chose. Rediculous/Ridiculous. Spelt/Spelled.
Rage, I tell you. Rage.
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Ha! And more!
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Now, Wordsmith, don’t loose your mind over this. 😛
Though, I have to say, it’s remarkable how many writers, especially academic ones, get this wrong. Hello! You’re an academic writer!! Get it right! Right?
I graded undergraduate papers when I was a grad student and I could barely make it a page without one of these horrendous mistakes. And it just kept happening. Wah!!
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I don’t get it. Really. I know curriculums are way too crowded, but maybe teachers need to spend more time on writing? I don’t know.
I’d grade papers with emojis.
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