Yes. So it's a pity he never actually said it....

But notice how it's always "I won"!

Isn't "for sure" a common racing cliche?

I'm sure it's been around for years, and not just for 2nd language english speakers. And I haven't really heard it used in other sports interviews.

Surely USA racing speak is the most annoying. You cannot say just "the car was great today",you have to say "the Kirk-Patrick Racing Super-Creme-Easy Hoosier Buick just ran great today"...

Randy Mamola says "for sure" alot on the telly - and his first language is English. For sure.

No it isn't, it's American. the two shouldn't be confused.

I wish our commentator Steve Slater would stop shouting "absolutely wheel to wheel racing !!! " whenever two cars are within a mile of each other ...

Ah yes, good point.

The Brits can't lecture anyone on grammar or pronunciation.

James Allen keeps going on about 'putting manners' on people, what the heck is that all about...

And one that always strikes me from the scandinavian drivers in WRC - 'It's-a-not-so-bad...'

That reminds me of a quote by Ken Dodd, a brilliant Liverpudlian stand-up comic, for the Johnny Foreigners amongst us. "We English have an advantage over everyone else in the world, we're not foreign". That will make most on this BB laugh, and merely confirm the existing prejudices of all the rest.

Another one for the Martin Brundle list - "there's a lot of energy going on" in something (suspension, bending aero part, any crash or accident). It's one of those phrases that makes less and less sense the more you think about it.

I love it when Gronholm gets really frustrated and starts every answer with a strange exasperated, phlegmy 'ghaa' noise. I actually hope he breaks down just so I can see him annoyed.

On the subject of F1 language I was surprised that no one commented about the famous Ronspeak yet... for sure he could use the term "brain fade" more often in recent years, honestly...

How about Fernando's "piss-stops".

He should drink less before the race.

Absolutely! Call it like you see it.

The first time I heard that expression it was used by Jackie Stewart.

In 1973...

Just for the sake of learning:

What is wrong with "for sure" and "to be honest"?

I am a self taught english speaker, and most of my learning came by reading and listening (songs, movies) and I think I did a pretty decent job. The first time I went to english-speaking country, I was able to communicate no problem at all. After that, I have been surviving grad school trouble free. I keep on learning from my office mates and technical reading, and non-technical stuff like this forum, though I am pretty sure that here is not the best place to learn . As you can imagine, I have a strange mix of british, american, and who knows what else modisms, but I don't realize about what I am doing unless someone explicitly points it out.

Thanks

-pato

whaddaya mean?

that FA does not pronounce the "t" in "pit".


-p

I will like to see you speaking a language that it's not your native one, for sure it will be really funny

Haug when asked about MCs performance: " a step in the right direction" (Ein Schritt in die richtige Richtung) ... hearing since in every interview after a lost race, blown engine or f*cked up qualifying ...

Me too

wot r u talkin bout?

When I taught English as a foreign language, this sort of thing was called "mother tongue intereference".

If I tried to speak German, Spanish or whatever I would be doing it in reverse, for sure.

Oh, for electrodes attached to James Allen's person to be controlled by a button on my remote. Should he foul my sensibilities one more time with the use of "monster" as a verb he would receive such a spine-stiffening jolt. If he fails to correct his offensive patter we'd work our way up to SAVAK intensities and duration. Life should be like this...

What I want to know is what the fsck is a "supremo"? I would be very surprised if anyone could find a single use of the words "Bernie Ecclestone" in an AtlasF1 News or Grapevine article that aren't preceded by the words "Formula One supremo". Seriously, go do a check over the last month's articles, I bet you can't find one. It's like the writers just have some shorthand where they type "BE" and the content-management software for the website automatically inserts his full official title.

I'm still confused though, what exactly is a supremo?

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=supremo

You'd be hard pushed to find any report about Bernie in any publication that doesn't refer to him as the supremo.

The meaning of "supremo" is more or less clear as I have also looked in English to English dictionary.
Problem is when I try to find a suitable word in my own language when translating an article for the local BB.

The whole 'for sure' thing has been bugging me for years. As far as I can work out and with the help of a dictionary the problem is that 'for sure' is an informal substitute for 'certainly'. The thing is there are three different definitions of certainly and for sure only means one of them.
Check out the definition of for sure on this page.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sure
then check certainly
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=certainly only the first definition here applies to for sure but it seems to be being used with the other definitions in mind.

That's why comments like "We've had some steps nearly every weekend so I think we will be keeping up, for sure, and maybe coming a bit closer too, sometimes." from Nico Rosberg annoy me because the 'for sure' isn't needed and if anything contradicts the 'I think' It's like he said 'We might be, definitely, keeping up' What I think Nico is that 'of course' they will be keeping up with the other teams either that or it's padding.

Saying that you get quotes like this one "For sure, Pedro knows the team very well and has lots of experience working with the team. For sure, it's great to have another Spanish driver in the team and he can help me a lot for sure, and I hope Pedro stays next year" where Alonso doesn't need to use for sure at all it just adds some pauses. This is annoying because there are plenty of good umms, ahhs and yeaahs to be using if you want a general affirmative pause, using 'for sure' makes it have less of an impact when you really need it.


As for an alternative to supremo, does your language have a word for the ringmaster at a circus? That's probably the closest you'll get to supremo (that is unless there are equivalents to 'head honcho' 'big cheese' or 'big enchilada' ).

Quali

I noticed Alonso saying this starting last year and now I hear it from the other drivers. Maybe it's just me but it sounds girly.

I am OK with this, maybe it's because I play racing sims a lot, where ppl only use "qual" for that matter.

Yeah? Show us a direct quote.

Mark

Team is working very hard.

First, why "yeah"?

Horrible word. The correct word is "yes".

Second, almost always used in conjunction with the dreadful "for sure", e.g.:

"For sure in the race I will push to the maximum ". Ugh.

Third, "it is difficult to overtake here". Yawn.


PdeRL

"And we'll have to look at the data to see what is the problem..."

Sure.

"On the bubble" in reference to the new qualifying sessions. Stupid phrase. I think Brundle said it first and now he and Allen parrot it back and forth all Saturday. grr....

'It was not my mistake, the TC failled.'
Montoya in Spain 2006.

"I think so maybe" - most french drivers

I believe that expression is originally from America (Indianapolis was the first place I heard it used), and is well in excess of twenty years old.

When you break it down, word for word, it doesnt make that much sense...

He never said that.

I WAS HELD BY TRAFFIC

What did he say?

I've always felt it might have been adopted from another sport, although I've no idea which.

Maybe he didn't, but all I know is that he was certainly reported as saying it, probably on AA or in the magazine.

Similar route to German "ja" and other words that drop the final s...it's only a dialect/idiolect form. After all, words like "bath" and "pass" don't traditionally have a long a, but it was adopted into received pronunciation in the 19th century. Maybe we should ban people saying "parth" or "grarse".

I mentioned earlier about Senna and his habit of dropping the end 'y' from words, so I was interested to note that some former Brazilian footballers were doing the same on a documentary on UK tv earlier this evening.

hahaha
I hadn't noticed that yet!
Fo' sho'.

James Allen said 'for sure' during sundays race. I can't remember the context.
It crossed my mind that maybe he saw this thread and was having a bit of a joke.

Good call, I hate that sponsorship gibberish too. Sometimes you wonder what the point of post-race interviews is, they all say the same thing.