Everywhere I go on the Internet I come across the term 'loosing' as illustrated in this postcard I've borrowed from this week's Post Secret. I've even gone as far as to look up 'loosing' in several online dictionaries, including the mighty Encyclopaedia Britannica. As of this moment, I've yet to find in any of these dictionaries an example such as I found on a Canadian website talking about a baby beluga. It read: 'She's filling out her fetal (my spell checker says it foetal) folds and loosing her wrinkled look'. Please note that I haven't said that 'loose' cannot be a verb, because any half decent dictionary should give numerous examples of 'to loose'. But as an ESL teacher, I'd put a big 'WW' for wrong word, both on the postcard and the sentence from the website. Is this evolution of the English language we're seeing here or am I loosing my mind? And for you is it 'a lot' or 'alot'? This is one that the spell checker tells me which is correct.
BTW, it seems the visitor counter on Post Secret is broken so I can't record my visitor number this week. I did get an invitation from someone who already has 1253 contacts. What do you do with so many contacts? Just imagine the number of posts there would be on your main page!
Recently I deleted a contact because he flooded the Inbox with news articles that anyone could have found on Yahoo, and sometimes he would post the same article twice. Sorry but I don't want to be contact number 1254. Some of us have already earned a gold 'P'. However, I'm going to put a link to the page of one of my contacts. She writes lovely poetry and takes professional photographs, so if you like what you see, you can invite her into your circle of friends as she's just getting started on here. Have a nice week all. Here's that link:
http://mimi29827.multiply.com/
P.S You'll have to copy and paste Mimi's url. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteLOL I must drive you nuts as a friend, with my usual incorrect spelling and bad grammar. LOL
ReplyDeleteMost spell checkers don't work worth a darn. imho
I had no idea you were a ESL teacher. Hubby's sister was one for years. She just recently returned back to the states.
1253 friends?!! That's almost sad, don't you think? I have trouble keeping up with mine, sometimes. I wonder how they do it?
Loosing? I will have to check my Webster's. Losing or loosening but can't recall loosing. Looser clothing works too. As far as 'alot' that should be a lot, or to allot far as I know but I'm no English teacher lol. 1253!! great number. You know me and my numbers. That's the month and year of my birth. Oh well I'm dating myself, at this point I don't care lol because I'm much younger than I feel these days. I cannot fathom having that many friends, it's just impossible. Contacts, sure but never friends.
ReplyDeleteSpell checkers are suspect as far as I'm concerned. I've found much to my annoyance that I end up going to my 25 pound dictionary to check the spell check lol.
I just thought that people were stupid by misspelling "losing". Why in heaven's name would they spell it "loosing" and add letters to the word??? That's contrary to the text messaging where everything is at a minimum. I'm comfortable enough with my spelling that I know when to trust spell check and when to ignore it... 99% of the time. If not then I go to Google which will offer me a "correct spelling" of the word. Of course I admit to being an old geezer who had sophomore English under Miss Walker, a formidable guardian of the English language. She was one tough nut and in the long run... one of the most respected teachers in my home town. Thank you Miss Walker.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of foetal instead of fetal, my spell checker is correct because it uses British spellings, which I tend to use so as not to confuse students. They have enough difficulty with spelling English words as it is! For grammar the spell checker is more or less worthless in English and Spanish, which are the languages I use it for most.
ReplyDeleteWell, Brenda..... Spell Checker is only checking spelling, NOT grammar. A Grammar Checker would be something else... much more complex. Wikipedia has an article about Grammar Checking :
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_checker
Then there's White Smoke:
http://www.check-grammar.net/?gclid=CKTu24bFp5UCFQsiIgod-lNjbQ
Then there's the article from YourDictionary.com which says that the grammar checking programs are not thorough and that your best bet is to LEARN good grammar. Then they give you a list of free online grammar checkers... go figure....
http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/free-online-grammar.html
Peace & ((S)), Ed
Thanks for the lesson, Ed and good night.
ReplyDeleteYW... and good night. Sleep tight. ((((S))))
ReplyDeletei am so lost!!! good night john boy
ReplyDeletelmao!!! I could never manage that many friends!!!! Sorry!!! AS to the spelling ..WEEELLL ....we all know I have a lang all my own!!! I prolly send one of those programs soin a spell check into a frenzzzzzzzy!!!! LMAO!!! Have a good day Brenda!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe whole "loosing" thing is a real pet peeve of mine. I cannot stand when I see that. And I see it everywhere. WTF? Did everyone sleep through English in HS? AND college?
ReplyDeleteI'd rather be zero than #1254. Could you be a good friend to 1254 people and still have a life outside cyber space??? Also had fun looking and thinking about "loosing"...The word and its uses baffle me. Though I guess English is a language constantly morphing, I just can't picture "loosing" anything. ( I fall into loosening, or losing with no space for loosing. ) Anyway, I enjoyed the blog and thank you for the kind words on my behalf. - Mimi.
ReplyDeleteI've never had more than 70 friends, and that was back in the yahoo 360 days when I was very active. I managed 20000 views though. It's hard to keep up with so many friends. It is "a lot" :)
ReplyDeleteA handful of friends is plenty for anyone to keep those friendships going. As regards loosing I wont be losing any sleep over a word I dont understand. Cheers all.
ReplyDelete