It's "Losing", Not "Loosing"

Okay, this is truly a pet peeve of mine.  In reading today's online article in the News & Record, I notice the caption under a photograph of Tyler Hansbrough.  Here it is, cut and pasted:  North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough talks to reporters after loosing to Kansas.

You "lose" a game.  Your shoelace is "loose".  "Loosing" is the verb form of "loose", which is very rarely used.  "I'm losing my mind."  "They were losing at the half."  Budd and I struggled to find a usage for "loosing" because it's awkward and usually can be better said otherwise, as in "loosening".  "He sat there, loosening his shoelaces."

Found another mistake in another article about a woman's purse being snatched.  "He was last seen driving a 1990s model teal green Buice LeSabre sedan. "  Buice?  I've never heard of that automobile brand. 

N&R just ran an editorial entitled "Our County's Children Need To Learn To Read Well".  I know we all make typographical errors.  And I'm really not trying to deliberately criticize N&R, a paper that I read daily and frequently enjoy.  I'm just saying, for the kids' sake, learn the difference between "loosing" and "losing," and print it correctly.  That's elementary school grammar, just like the usage of "too", "two" and "to" or "their", "there" and "they're".  Knowing the difference between these tricky words is an important part of reading comprehension, as well as good writing skills, both of which are essential for the success of students at all grade levels. 

Birthing an Event - Like Birthing A Kid?

I am so excited about Blogsboro.com's first event, "Joetry - An Open Mic Event of Poetry, Prose, Song and Coffee" that's going to be held at The Coffee Break, 1820 Spring Garden Street on Jan. 27 at 4:00 p.m.  The Coffee Break is just a terrific space perfect for this kind of event, and the good folks who own and run the place have graciously allowed us to hold the event in their great venue. 

I know my good friend and partner, Billy "The Blogging Poet" Jones will be reading from one of his books...I hope he does "Carrot on a Stick" again.  I just love that poem.  And my darling Budd will also be reading an excerpt from one of his stories.  We're hoping to attract many more performers and make it a wonderful and fun event.  Jerry from The Coffee Break tells me that Patrick Murphy will also be doing a musical performance.

This promises to be the start of something really wonderful; a place for artists to gather, perform, and enjoy each other, as well as a place for the public to come and hear, and enjoy yummy beverages and desserts from The Coffee Break.  I'm so impressed with this new business, and want to do all I can to help keep it around.  Once you've been there, you'll see how cozy and inviting it is, and how great the offerings are.  I saw my friend Elizabeth Castelda from Coldwell Banker Triad Realtors there last night, and she remarked how much she liked The Coffee Break.  It's a great place to network and close a business deal.  Elizabeth's got something exciting and "green" in the works in Greensboro which we will be profiling here on Blogsboro soon.

Since this is the first event I've put together for Blogsboro, I'm just flush with pride.  I do hope you will join Team Blogsboro as we work together to keep art, poetry and music (and a great new business) alive and well in Greensboro.

Poetry Alive and Well in Greensboro

My husband, Budd Wilkins, took these photos last night at the poetry reading hosted by Jordan Green of Yes! Weekly.  We had a wonderful time, and Budd also read an excerpt from his latest short story, Plush Life.  Clement Mallory and Ron Whitehead were mesmerizing and performed for an appreciative crowd.  The Blogsboro Team hopes to host some events like this in the near future, so stay tuned!  We would like to personally thank Jordan for his hospitality, and his wonderful poem.

Listeners 

Clement Mallory

Billy Jones reciting Carrot on a Stick

Our very own Billy Jones
Clement Mallory's amazing performance

Having a good time!
The "In-to Poetry" Crowd
Danny on guitar
Jordan reading his poem
Ron Whitehead
Ron Whitehead 

Play, learn, give.  I just learned about FreeRice, a site where you can play a vocabulary game, learn new words, and donate grains of rice for hunger elimination.  Here's their info from their "About Us" page:

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.

Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide.

****

I read about this in a Reuters article which I'm referencing here because it has links to other click-to-give sites, like the ones I wrote about in an earlier post.

Play. Learn. Give. Help.

Merry Christmas!

What are words for? When no one listens anymore?  Remember that song?  Kudos to the DNA Store for the image at left - I liked it mainly because the word "Wilkins" appears in it (thanks, Maurice Wilkins, scientist), and as you probably know, that's going to be my last name soon.

Had an interesting discussion with a colleague today about words, particularly about words that offend.  A word was mentioned that is usually used to derogatorily describe a private part of a woman's anatomy, and can also be used as a noun to describe somebody, as in, "That person is a pretentious ****."  It's a four-letter word.  My colleague expressed his displeasure with this certain word, and asked me if there weren't any words that I found offensive.  I said no.  Why?  Because words are tools.  Even so-called offensive words.  They have their place.  My colleague's response was basically that any writer who uses that word, and doesn't come up with a different word, isn't creative.  Well, I had to call bullshit on that one. Numerous authors have used the word in question successfully and pitch-perfectly, including James Hynes, Will Self, Hunter S. Thompson, Henry Miller (thanks, Budd, for clueing me in on that one).  Offensive as it may be to some people, it has a place where it can be used, and in fact, demands to be used.  (That's what free speech is all about, anyway, right?)

Lenny Bruce, in his famous bit "How to Relax Your Colored Friends at Parties," used to deliberately employ the infamous "N" word in order to leech it of its shock value.  Now, I'm not saying that one should go around deliberately trying to be offensive - there have been times when I've critiqued writing and suggested other word choices based on the audience who will be reading it.  And there are times when I've said "Leave this in" to something that could offend because it fit the story or piece and made it more than it was without a particular word or phrase. 

I wasn't real pleased when Don Imus made his now-legendary remark about the Rutgers women's basketball team, but I've never been a big Imus fan anyway, and he's made enough money to be pretty happy for the rest of his life.  And I've been hurt by words before myself.  I'm a big woman.  REALLY big.  I remember one time, in Harris Teeter, this little girl and her mother came in as I was walking out with my mother, and the little girl stared at me in awe (and probably disgust) and said, very loudly, "What a FAT LADY!" and I immediately retorted "What a RUDE CHILD!"  Her mother looked at me sheepishly and apologized.  I was proud of myself for the quick response, and for making her mother understand that she had instilled those values and that language in her child. 

I'm not saying we should all be reduced to name-calling.  I'm just saying that, in my opinion, to proclaim that certain words have no place or are too "base" to be used, particularly in literature (or to describe Ann Coulter), is just beyond my comprehension. 

I'm going to sing now, so this post will be over.