Thread: to loose -- an error or what?

Originally Posted by Layne

All of these would sound very strange to me (especially choosday) except the 'oo' vs. 'yoo', I frequently use both pronunciations. In my area it seems to vary from one person to another. This reminds me of a TV commercial for picante sauce where some cowboys say "Nooooo York city!?"

Haha. Pace Picante. Those were great commercials!

Originally Posted by TATY

In the south-east (standard) English accent, Due is pronounced the same as Jew.

That's why "I've paid my dues" can be amusing.

It is due to the British pronouciation of the "oo" sound with an initial "y" in mant circumnstances.

E.g. Tuesday = Tyoosday (Тьюздэй). However most people say Choosday (Чуздэй) , but the Ch- sound is easier to say that the Ty-.

Similar the voiced version of Ty-, Dy-, as in Due (Дью), in most poeples speech is "Joo" (Джу). Similarly Dune is pronounced the same as June.

When U is long, "oo", after most letters is it pronounced 'yoo'. BrEng is more regular that AmEng. E.g. in AmEng you say "Yoonited" (United) but Tube is "toob".

There are words where Americans do the same. E.g. Muse is Мьюз

This is why in Russian it is Нью-Йорк and not Ну-Йорк. BrEng pronunciation of New is "Nyoo"

I heard on the football commentary last night, England vs Sweden:

"Beckham hasn't scored a free-kick for England for over three years.

Jew, isn't he?"

I still snigger childishly every time I hear Bush say the word 'duty':

"we have a doody to finish what we started/ we have a doody to do what we think is right/ we have a doody to help".

Lol! That is nothing compared to "stooopid."

I cringe every time I hear it.

Originally Posted by Ramil

I confused once loose with lousy

"I once confused loose with lousy" or "Once I confused loose with lousy".

Originally Posted by basurero

Lol! That is nothing compared to "stooopid."

I cringe every time I hear it.

What about "moran" though?

Originally Posted by basurero

Lol! That is nothing compared to "stooopid."

I cringe every time I hear it.

Like with ''Black-eyed Peas''.

A similar problem for native English speakers is Breath and Breathe. The former is the noun and the latter is the verb, but they are commonly mixed up.

Originally Posted by TATY

A similar problem for native English speakers is Breath and Breathe. The former is the noun and the latter is the verb, but they are commonly mixed up.

Not to mention the fact that they are prounounced COMPLETELY differently.

Do people mix 'rise' and 'raise'?

Originally Posted by Rtyom

Do people mix 'rise' and 'raise'?

Don't think so...? The difference is basically like between лежать vs. положить. One is the thing doing it to itself, the other is having somone do it to it. E.G.: "We will rise up and we will say: 'no more.'" vs. "In remembrance of the fallen heroes, we will only raise the flag to half-staff. (FWIW: произношение = райз vs. рэйз).

Originally Posted by Бармалей

Originally Posted by TATY

A similar problem for native English speakers is Breath and Breathe. The former is the noun and the latter is the verb, but they are commonly mixed up.

Not to mention the fact that they are prounounced COMPLETELY differently.

No they are not that different.

Breathe has a long E vowel and voiced th
Breath has a short E vowel and voicless th.

In what context would anybody use "loose" as a verb? "Loosen", sure, but "loose"? Sounds weird to me.

tdk

Originally Posted by tdk2fe

In what context would anybody use "loose" as a verb? "Loosen", sure, but "loose"? Sounds weird to me.

tdk

You can loose a volley of arrows, for example -- or like someone said above, the sun looses fire, etc.

Originally Posted by TATY

Originally Posted by Бармалей

Originally Posted by TATY

A similar problem for native English speakers is Breath and Breathe. The former is the noun and the latter is the verb, but they are commonly mixed up.

Not to mention the fact that they are prounounced COMPLETELY differently.

No they are not that different.

Breathe has a long E vowel and voiced th
Breath has a short E vowel and voicless th.

I guess this is just a matter of personal opinion; they are two words that sound distinctly different. You'd only get them confused in a written context and not a spoken one (unless you were a COMPLETE moron).

In what context would anybody use "loose" as a verb? "Loosen", sure, but "loose"? Sounds weird to me.

Examples from some British dictionary for learners:

Police fired tear gas and loosed police dogs.
The recent court case has loosed a number of racist attacks.
The tanker loosed 13,000 gallons of pesticide into the river.
He clambered forward, loosed the ropes, and threw his weight on the sail to bring it dawn.
The internet has opened a Pandora's box of threats: its demons have been loosed on us all.

Does they too sound weird?

(I think that "to bring it dawn" is a typo - but it's theirs, not mine)

Originally Posted by E-learner

In what context would anybody use "loose" as a verb? "Loosen", sure, but "loose"? Sounds weird to me.

Examples from some British dictionary for learners:

Police fired tear gas and loosed police dogs.
The recent court case has loosed a number of racist attacks.
The tanker loosed 13,000 gallons of pesticide into the river.
He clambered forward, loosed the ropes, and threw his weight on the sail to bring it dawn.
The internet has opened a Pandora's box of threats: its demons have been loosed on us all.

Does they too sound weird?

(I think that "to bring it dawn" is a typo - but it's theirs, not mine)

To loose is not commonly used at all. It is sort of the same as to "let loose".

Sort of like how you can say "to set free" , or just "to free"

They sound perfectly normal to me.

Originally Posted by TATY

Originally Posted by Бармалей

Originally Posted by TATY

A similar problem for native English speakers is Breath and Breathe. The former is the noun and the latter is the verb, but they are commonly mixed up.

Not to mention the fact that they are prounounced COMPLETELY differently.

No they are not that different.

Breathe has a long E vowel and voiced th
Breath has a short E vowel and voicless th.

Let alone that in the first case it's [i:] and in the second case it's [e], they're the same. TATY, you talk around.

Originally Posted by DDT

They sound perfectly normal to me.

Do you really use "to loose" as a verb, DDT? To me those sentences seem more faimiliar if "loosed" was replaced with "released"

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Originally Posted by DDT

They sound perfectly normal to me.

Do you really use "to loose" as a verb, DDT? To me those sentences seem more faimiliar if "loosed" was replaced with "released"

I think it's fine. I wouldn't use it in an everyday dialogue, but if I was writing something and I felt if fit properly I wouldn't hesitate using it. It's perfectly understandable to any moderately intelligent person, I'm sure, although for whatever reason (and I'm not sure if this accurate or not) it sounds kind of like non-American or old-fashioned English.