Pet peeve of the day: Being a loser

[Robyn Miller]

The word is lose. Not loose. The word is loser, not looser. One means you've lost. The other means your clothes are going to fall off.

Am I a loser for mentioning this? Maybe.

What's your pet peeve?

[Bob Sullivan]

I've never seen any "loosers" but I know if I had it would annoy me.

As a writer, English grad, and paid proofreader, I have several pet peeves that I encounter often.

One is misuse of the word "literally" in exactly the opposite manner it was intended. Such as when someone once told me they received a "literal tongue lashing" from an irate customer. Eeeew! I know you didn't mean that!

Lots of people say they "could care less" about something when they mean they couldn't care less.

[Erik Deckers]

I saw this t-shirt online one time that said "Your retarded." The owner of the t-shirt was supposed to use the phrase to people who corrected the t-shirt wearer on their grammar. I wanted to get a shirt that said "you're a looser" in response.

Loser/looser is one of my pet peeves, but a small one. But using "less" instead of "fewer" just makes me jump up and down though.

[Dan Surface]

Walking through our mall in Ft. Wayne sometimes confirms that the words mean the same when I see a young man's pants falling down (loose). Does that make him a loser? hmmmm.

[Darrell G. Walton]

LOL! I was just discussing the very same thing with my son and his teenage friends! But in reference to them and peeves, I would say mine is cool dudes! Their little group that are thought of as "cool" because they think they are "all of that" because they got one over on someone. (Everyone exept dad that is, to their dismay.) Heh! Heh! p.s. No Robyn, you're not the loser, those who don't know the difference are with their "L" hand gestures on their foreheads!