loose your rag [lose]

Learner_of_English

Learner_of_English

Senior Member
Turkish
Hi guys,
recently I have learnt an idiom about losing your temper: To loose your rag

Example: I lost my rag when the traffic warden gave me a ticket.

My question is: Is this idiom still used?
Thank you in advance
 
    • You have made the common error of confusing the words lose and loose. That said, to lose your rag sounds out of date to me. It's understandable, but then, I'm pretty old.
     
    I have never heard of this expression, and I would not have known what you meant by it had I not seen this thread -- but then, I have never heard of a "traffic warden", either.

    Where did you learn these strange terms?
     
    It's not a strange term over here.

    Nor are traffic wardens (aka CEOs - Civil Enforcement Officers, or - PEOs Parking Enforcement Officers) rare.

    CAosSzfWAAEFV3N.jpg
     
    Yes I agree - here in the UK it's still common to hear someone say they lost their rag or are about to lose their rag.

    One of my pet peeves is people who confuse lose and loose. The amount of times I've heard someone say I need to loose some weight...
     
    I occasionally hear that expression here in Melbourne, Australia.
    Another good colloquial expression that means to lose your temper
    is to "do your nana", nana being short for banana, I assume.
    Or "do your lolly".
     
    Where did you learn these strange terms?
    Click to expand...
    :D
    "'Fluenced by they dang Brits."
    I think 'lose your rag' probably is old-fashioned but I'll ask my handyman (69) and my home help and my daughter (both 47). Hubby and myself, in our 80's, would say we 'lost it', with intensifiers like 'totally'.
    There must be many expressions; to go postal or interballistic come to mind but we mustn't make lists. I go more off the deep end over the lie vs lay confusion.
    Lose rhymes with choose and shoes, while loose rhymes with moose and mousse. Study them and make sentences to help you remember the differences in function and pronunciation.
     
    I wasn’t aware that to lose your rag was going out of use in the UK either. Not that I’ve heard it recently, admittedly.

    As for people saying loose rather than lose, that’s a new one on me. I’ve often seen it misspelt, but never mispronounced.
     
    lingobingo said:
    A quick check in Google Books for “lose his rag” and “lost his rag” reveals that it was in use by 1930.
    Click to expand...

    Even sooner, 1908: “Don't lose your rag!” he called over to his companion. “The Duc's not at home. It's not him we want, anyway." It did not soothe Seager to think he had been made a fool of by a mere lackey. (Aitken, A Million a Minute.)

    But it doesn't occur above one phrase in a million until before 1980.
     
    I take it that means it doesn’t occur in whatever books, journals, etc. Google uses as its corpus, but that doesn’t take any account of spoken language?
     
    lingobingo said:
    As for people saying loose rather than lose, that’s a new one on me. I’ve often seen it misspelt, but never mispronounced.
    Click to expand...
    I have a feeling that this may be a feature of Indian English. I recall a conversation with a Indian gentleman who told me that loose and lose were homophones in the English taught in that part of the world. What I can't remember is whether they were both pronounced with an /s/ or a /z/.
     
    lingobingo said:
    I take it that means it doesn’t occur in whatever books, journals, etc. Google uses as its corpus, but that doesn’t take any account of spoken language?
    Click to expand...
    Ngram doesn't take the spoken language into any account at all, except as it occurs in written dialogues. That's why I hardly ever use it, as it isn't truly representative of usage.
     
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