It's a funny one. It's most often paired with another verb as in "to set loose" or "to let loose"....

But it's not being paired with another verb; in those examples it's being used as an adjective.

Unfortunately in a hundred years' time it probably will be a verb just because so many people use it as such.

I'll be honest, this one confused me, so I dug out the dictionary (Shorter Oxford). Conclusion - it's a complex word appearing as a verb, adjective, and adverb....

My husband does archery and from his reports it does seem that 'Did you loose an arrow?' and 'Did you lose an arrow?' are completely interchangeable as they always seem to be stopping to hunt for lost loosed arrows

Reverting back a few posts, my father-in-law (a true Geordie from Waaaalsend) will often say "did yer loss it hinney?"

SB

That's not unfortunate, it's normal.

'Threat of fuel strikes are averted'. (newspaper headline)

I was reading an oldish Private Eye the other day which had a picture caption from the website of a newspaper (Mirror??):

This is the bath in which Whitney Houston could of died in

Groan.... that particular solecism is wrong on so many levels that it leaves you wondering what is taught in English classes at school these days

<<My husband does archery and from his reports it does seem that 'Did you loose an arrow?' and 'Did you lose an arrow?' are completely interchangeable as they always seem to be stopping to hunt for lost loosed arrows>>

As an archer, I can confirm that this is a true and accurate account of the way we spend our time.

Also, "loose" is in the dikshunary as a verb, so I don't quite understand the original objection (maybe I missed some earlier posts)...

Very little in my experience.

I am constantly appalled by the number of post-grad students I come across who struggle to write a cogent sentence, let alone a cogent report! And don't get me started on homophones.

SB

PS: I have added a full stop for you!

Oops I misread that as homophobes !

Thank you. A bad habit from writing too many e-mails at work.

Given that I work in IT, one of my pet hates is people not understanding the difference between automated and automatic. People tend to say "The automatic xxxx" and I say "There goes one..." and they don't see what I'm getting at

There are many others.

There are different rules for emails?

'Hostages have been ordered to throw computers from the windows by the suspect'

Erm - I think I get that ....... ?

No, but one tends to find that one omits them at the end of paragraphs in e-mails for reasons that one does not understand. One does not otherwise tend to do this.

Paragraph from an article in a local paper ---

Parishioners at xxxxx xxxxxx have been urged to keep valuables on them during communion, to avoid becoming victims of the thieves, which has been hit by over an 18-month period.

Oh that's just great, isn't it, maggiemay?

I'm afraid my red pen was twitching at a forumite recently.....but for the fear of being excommunicated I will keep quiet....

Zip-Lip-Bag x

Did someone put all the words of that "sentence" into a bag, shake it up, and then print them in the order in which they happened to fall out?

Rest assured if said sentence had been shaken up in THIS Bag, the words WOULD have come out in the right order.

Bah-Bag x

Scrabble-Bag, shurely?

Ha! Indeed.

Very good.

Bx

PS - you need to get out more. I'll lend you my anorak.

Too true. Could have done with your anorak earlier when I forgot my umbrella.

I have a train timetable too....

Helpful-Bag x

Aaargh, homonyms! Are they really that difficult?

They were the clever horses that Gulliver met, weren't they?

Proposals seen by this newspaper show the clinical working group review will recommend only one specialist impatient childrens' ward in SW London ...

quote from a local paper - online version.

Someone showed me a letter they'd received today...here's part of it:

On....I will have a get together with some people for a cupper / coffee
And some think to eat you are very much welcome.
From 1pm to 4pm Friday afternoon
I am hopping you will come and join me,
Bring others if you wish there welcome also

This is from the manager of a business...

Mind you, I would hop with joy if Cyrilla joined me for coffee!

On the stairwell in the building I work in an internal poster has appeared (A0 sized) which has in foot high letters: "Who will you vote for?".

LOL!!!

It's not as if it's just silly typos (such as I'm prone to)...

On a noticeboard at West Croydon Bus Station this morning :

"264 terminates at Mitcham. For Tooting walk to Figges Marsh for bus'es"

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Bx

I'm intrigued - what's been elided by that apostrophe?

'businesses' obviously!

From a write-up in a local newspaper (online version) about a flower festival at St John's Church -

"The festival was absolutely fantastic. The church looked beautiful and the music complimented it"

Argh (having been at said flower festival and concert)!

From one single article in same online newspaper -

arresred
Wendesday
overtayed

Another brickbat for the beeb -

from an article on the BBC new website this morning ...

... individuals whose father's were older ...

At least they could be consistent!

here are two annoying grammar issues I have seen recently:

gateauxes
sunglass's- and that was in specsavers!!

haha! gateauxes! I almost like that. At least someone tried, I guess!

At least they got the French grammar right, the added English grammar rules ruined it all!!

'...guilty of selling cannabis to an undercover policeman worth less than ?300 '.

It's amazing how cheaply you can pick up a policeman these days.

From the BBC News website. Have fun reading this, everyone...

'An agreement between the Musicians Union and 2012 guarantees that all professional performers will be payed unless they are amateurs or headline acts happy to waive their fee.'

full article

"Alot" is not a word. Unless you mean "allot" which is something entirely different.

"Loose" rhymes with "moose" and "sluice" and is the opposite of "tight"; "lose" rhymes with "chose" and "shoes" and is the opposite of "find". Therefore I am losing, not "loosing", the will to live.

And please - even BBC announcers - "bouquet" does not rhyme with OK!