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Pet peeve of the day: Being a loser

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?

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Comment by Bob Sullivan on February 9, 2009 at 12:29pm: 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.

Comment by Erik Deckers on February 8, 2009 at 10:15pm: 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.

Comment by Dan Surface on February 8, 2009 at 7:31am: 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.