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From: 4s00th <4s00th@hushmail.com>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.prettyboy
Subject: Re: To Plus-Grant on a significantly insignificant linguistic curiosity
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:47:53 -0400
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On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:28:26 +0100, Mephistopheles
<nobody@nowhere.net> wrote:
>About two years back, before he foreclosed on his Grand Mission here,
>I drew y not's attention to what to me was his irritatingly persistent
>confusion over two simple words: namely, LOOSE, & LOSE.
>
>"Loose" = not firmly or tightly fixed. ( a loose screw, a loose tooth)
>"Lose" = to mislay, be deprived of ( to lose a tooth is worse than a
>loose one)
>
>A loose cannon can be annoyingly unpredictable, but to lose a cannon
>far worse, especially if it finishes up in the hands of the Taliban.
>If you were reporting back on the War situation from the Front it's
>important to get these distinctions right.
>
>He graciously thanked me for pointing it out, but sadly I never saw
>any firm purpose of amendment. He continued in the error of his ways.
>And so time passed, & the children who were children grew up & bought
>motor cars & the leaves dropped from their parent branches & the snows
>fell in their flocculent exuberance. All seemed well with the world.
>And Mephi busy as always with good deeds everywhere forgot all about
>it....till today.
>
>In the thread "Who is this man?" you wrote(my Capitals):-
>
>" to offend you and the rest of the wolfpack and
>LOOSE you as a useless friend is more like it."
>
>(from your penultimate post, 3rd interpolation)
>
>So, on a whimsy, I re-read (oh, I am a glutton for punishment) the 2nd
>post in the same thread by your closet companion, who curiously
>slipped up on that fugitive word:-
>
>"Trolls never win arguments in the Fort..... They LOOSE just in acting
>like trolls, whatever the merits of their arguments."
>(from his penultimate paragraph)
>
>Now, mutatis mutandis, & to quote Oscar Wilde, "To lose one parent may
>be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose both looks like
>carelessness".....but 3 In such close proximity, & in the same
>thread.... Am I being too subtle here?
>
>Such confusion may, of course, be a widespread & legitimate
>Americanism. Or, as the Roman Pataculus observed:- "Emulation is the
>spur of wit, & sometimes envy, sometimes admiration, quickens our
>endeavours". In other words, friends idiosyncracies brush off against
>each other.........or......Shades of Gemstone?
>
>No, Mephi, no!
>
>Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
> The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
>Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
> The frumious Bandersnatch
>
>Well, as you can see, I am sorely discombobulated by it all, & apply
>to you for help in the hope that you can bring my research to a more
>satisfying & meaningful conclusion.
>
>Mephi
>
I hope I have never made that mistake -- but I freely admit that any
time I use either of those words, I stop and look at whatever word I
typed a second time to see if I used the one I meant to use!
I'm not so sure you found identifying information so much as a trend
towards really bad English usage. Loose/lose is only one example, and
it disturbs me much less than your/you're or there/their/they're! The
its/it's is one that I also have to look at twice, and I was totally
shocked when I had to explain affect/effect to one of my most learn'ed
friends.
The fact is that people often type these messages in haste -- and what
is the old saying -- screw up in haste, repent in leisure?
But the real unfortunate part of the whole thing is how it affects the
English language. English, being a living and fluid language, changes
quickly as new words are added, old words are out-dated and other
words are given new meanings. Fifteen years ago, the term "google" was
a rare word used only in mathematical circles! Now, we "Google" things
on a daily basis! And now we see the creep of IM-speak into our
language, something I've made use of in other circumstances. And I
actually loved that commercial where everyone but "Mom" is speaking in
IM or Text-Message Speak! "Oh, IDK, my BFF Rose." An unfortunate side
effect, English is rapidly losing many of its nuances.
Ah, for the innocent days when the Flintstones could have a "gay" old
time and my alma mater didn't giggle when we sang the Grand Old Song
after every football score:
That grand old song of wahoo-wa,
We'll sing it o're and o're.
It cheers our hearts and warms our blood
To hear them shout and roar.
We come from old Vir-gin-i-a
Where all is bright and gay (chorus shouting "Not Gay, Not Gay!")
Let's all stand up and give a yell
For dear old UVA!
-- 4s00th@hushmail.com
If you send email, I will reply to it here at asbl
(without showing your email addy)
unless you ask me not to.
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