I always wince when I hear native english
speakers make that mistake. People also confuse these:

  than and then
  affect and effect
  it's and its
  adapt and adept
  "a while" and "awhile"

Since many people make these mistakes every time,
they're probably not typos. It's always refreshing
to read the impeccable posts from Jens, Tom, etc.





> --- Tom Bridgeland <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Actually, my experience is that it's generally the native
> speakers who make this error.
>
> Just for everybody's information:
> lose = present tense of "lost," i.e. "to lose weight"
> loose = adjective, opposite of "tight."
>
> Jens Wilkinson
>