Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
October 6 Google search returned
14,600 for “loose respect”
222,000 for “lose respect”
I first encountered “loose respect” when a South African gent was trying to chat me up, and sent a note about how important working out was, because he would just “loose respect” for anyone who “let themselves go.” I thought maybe this was some Sow Thefrican pronunciation/misspelling thing until I saw it again. . . and again. . .here in the USA. After hearing about eggcorns I had a little “aha!” moment on this and did a Google search with the above results.
I think this may be a real eggcorn because of the meaning of “loose.” The expression offers an idea of respect for someone as something you have a metaphorical grip on. If the other party disappoints you, well, your respect is either “let loose” or “loosened” to the point of being only an approximation of respect.
PLUS, my Google search revealed that many people “loose repect” for their spouses after an infidelity! How’s that for “loose”?
Victoria
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The problem with the interpretation is that misspelling “lose” as “loose” is happening all over the place, not just in this phrase. I’ve even seen people refer to others as “loosers”. This misspelling is common enough that I’ve started to have nightmares about it being blessed as an alternate spelling in some future dictionary.
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It’s hard to find an example where contextual clues would suggest that “loose respect” is literally intended (in the sense of relaxing one’s respect). After trying a few variations in my Google searches, I found just one…
Theosophy World — Home Page Small incidents began to loosen my respect for official churchism. Just as at school there was one hymn absolutely barred before the holidays, ...
www.theos-world.com/archives/show.php?N … 00%20Issue – 99k – Cached – Similar pages
But, I can’t decide whether the usage above is proper (and intended) or an eggcorn of “lose my respect.” Perhaps I should start by asking: is the above usage even proper?
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