As a linguist, I don’t care what you do with language. Or rather, I don’t care what you ought to do with language — it’s much more interesting what people actually do do. You go ahead and do whatever, and I’ll observe you and describe empirically what you’re doing.
But I am not just a linguist. I (pause for effect) am a man, with loves and hates and passions much like your own. And though I am trained in detached observation, there are certain examples of incorrect usage that grate upon my sensitive linguistic ears.
So even though it makes me sound like an old fart, I’m going to let you in on one of my pet language hates.
LOOSE, often an adjective: not tight, having a bit of slack or play.
He is a loose cannon.
The women were loose.
Speak properly or I will pound you until your teeth are loose.
Uncommonly a verb: to release.
Loose the hounds.
I loosed the ropes and tightened up the mains’l.
Compare with:
LOSE, a verb: to misplace.
I lost my bear.
Lose the accent; it makes you sound weird.
If one more person makes this mistake in my hearing, I am going to lose it, and they will lose an eye.
Speakers of English: ‘LOOSE’ AND ‘LOSE’ ARE DIFFERENT. If you confuse the two, you are not engaging in Lexical Variation and Change. You are Using the Wrong Word.
Would everyone please make a note of this, and fix it wherever you have committed this semi-literate blunder.
Thank you.
7 March 2006 at 11:20 pm
I believe the technical term for this is ‘catecresis’. We had a bet on in my department on which of us would dare to write this in the margin of an essay. Needless to say none of us were so mean, though temptation arose frequently. My pet hate is ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ being used incorrectly.
8 March 2006 at 9:29 am
Quite the word, thanks snowqueen. I’m feeling much better after getting that off my chest.
Now that I’ve calmed down and put my linguist hat back on, I have realised that every language change is considered wrong at the time. Schoolmarms of ages past would have cringed to hear that I was ‘laying down’ for a while, or that I asked “Who were you talking to?”
But this is the nature of language, and it’s pointless to play language police. In ages hence, they shall think ‘shall’ as archaic as we regard ‘thee’ and ‘thou’, and they’ll write ‘thank you’ and ‘a lot’ as one word.
9 March 2006 at 5:33 pm
As a mere Brit. it’s good to know you are keeping linguistic score for us out in the wider world.
Thanksalot. 😉