A few days ago, I noticed yet another post where someone had used the word "loose" when they meant to say "lose", e.g. they talked about how one could "loose" a duel. I didn't want to say anything in that thread since I don't want to embarrass anyone: those words are hard enough to spell even for native English speakers, and I know some people here are not native English speakers. So instead, I wrote a couple of things that will hopefully help people to remember which word is which.
Loose = the opposite of tight. You can wear loose clothing, or tight clothing.
Lose = the opposite of win. You can lose a duel, or you can win a duel.
But since those two sentences probably won't be memorable enough, have a couple of stories!
QuoteA Crab warrior starts to accuse you of trying to abuse his sister. This is news to you: you've never met her, or him, before. He must have you confused with someone else. So you need to find some ruse that will let you refuse to fight a duel. Because as you look at his mighty thews, you know that if you have to fight him, you will surely lose.
I couldn't make my second story fit into a Rokugan theme, but oh well, it should be memorable enough to remember anyway.
QuoteA goose once had a grudge against a moose. So she tied a noose to the branch of a spruce, to set a trap that would strangle the moose. The trap was set in front of a sluice full of juice, so that the moose would focus on the juice and ignore the noose. But the noose was too loose, and failed to strangle the moose. The moose was able to deduce that the goose had set the noose, but the goose's apologies were profuse, so the two called a truce. And all because of a loose noose.
P.S. The two of them later went on to save a papoose from being run over by a caboose, but that's another story. Probably written by Dr. Seuss.
So now you know the difference between lose and loose. (And knowing is, as we all know, half the battle. The Political half, to be specific).
Edited by rmunn
