Get Lost

I'm not sure that there is anything that bothers me more than people who write "loose" when they mean to write "lose." I'm not sure if it is an inadvertent error or if it is a common mistake because of ignorance of the difference. Either way, here's a quick and painless lesson:

Lose rhymes with choose and refers to misplacing something or being defeated, as in a sports game. For example: Don't lose your temper.

Loose rhymes with goose and is the opposite of tight. For example: This belt is loose.

Spell check isn't going to catch this one for you, so it would behoove you to commit it to memory.

Similarly, loser refers to a person or team who lost. Looser is used in comparison to refer to something - an article of clothing, perhaps - that is less tight than something else.