Blast from the Past: The difference between Loose and Lose

[mendax.livejournal.com]

This blast from the past is brought to you with examples from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It was June of 2008. In the U.S., Barack Obama was named the Democratic Party presidential nominee. Fandom was all atwitter about the upcoming Joss Whedon project, Dollhouse. And the truly super supercheesegirl wrote an excellent post on the difference between "lose" and "loose."

...That all seems so long ago.

supercheesegirl did a thorough rundown of the definitions, so I'll skip straight to an example of the correct use of "lose."

Cordelia: I don't know what to say, it was really, I mean, one minute you're in your normal life, and then who's in the fridge? It really gets to you, a thing like that. It was ... let's just say I haven't been able to eat a thing since yesterday. I think I lost, like, seven and a half ounces? Way swifter than that so-called diet that quack put me on. Oh, I'm not saying that we should kill a teacher every day just so I can lose weight, I'm just saying when tragedy strikes, we have to look on the bright side. You know? (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Teacher's Pet")

Okay, that was a long one, but I couldn't help myself. I really miss season one Cordelia.

Frankly, the confusion between these two words almost always involves someone using "loose" where it should be "lose," not the other way around.

As an adjective, we use "loose" quite frequently.

Mayor Wilkins: But I guess we're past that now. This year is too important to let a loose cannon rock the boat.

Allan: Should I have Mr. Trick send a committee to deal with this?

Mayor Wilkins: Loose cannon. Rock the boat. Is that a mixed metaphor? (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Lover's Walk")

And as noted by supercheesegirl, it shows up in a number of verb phrases.

Giles: When you live on top of a ... a mystical convergence, it's only a matter of time before a fresh hell breaks loose. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Reptile Boy")

But if you want a verb, odds are you're looking for "lose." We simply don't use "loose" in its verb form, meaning to set free, very often. For example, I scoured the entirety of Buffy and didn't find a single example. Oh, sure, in "The Prom" Tucker could have said the following:

"I'm going to loose my fiercest hellhounds on the prom."

But he didn't. It's just not very common usage, particularly in present tense. If you find yourself using two "O"s in "loose," make sure you could replace it with the two "E"s of "free." Conversely, be sure you lose that second "O" for "lose".

It occurs to me, as well, that this error could come simply from confusion regarding pronunciation. "Lose" is the only word I know of in English with an "-ose" ending that is is pronounced /-üz/. Because "lose" resembles but does not rhyme with "hose," "rose," or "nose," one might believe that the double "O"s are needed to create that vowel sound. But remember, when you have those two "O"s, the "S" following them is soft. "Loose" always rhymes with "noose," "goose," and "moose."