196 replies to this topic

[68targa]

I'm surprised this thread didn't start from the  "Get Go" 

[D-Type]

It's not only motor sport commentators but tennis commentators infuriate me with their use of "Grand Slam" for a "Grand Slam qualifying tournament".  It's equivalent from saying Oscar Piastri has just won his first World Championship or the Lewis Hamilton has won a record 104 World Championships.

[pacificquay]

I'm Yorkshire born and bred, and for self defence purposes in my school days I must have had a fairly pronounced local accent, though I was always corrected by my father if I didn't speak 'properly' at home. I moved around the Country a bit after that, and spent several years in Manchester and then East Anglia, mainly Norfolk, so all traces of accents more or less cancelled each other out, and now having lived almost half my life on the south coast of England, I'm pretty much accentless. I've also spent time in France and Germany and am fairly fluent in both languages. Wife Anne insists that I speak both languages, German especially, with a noticeable Sheffield accent. Most Germans tend to assume initially that I'm either Bavarian or Dutch though.

You do have an accent then, a southern English one.

 

No-one is accentless

[barrykm]

Has 'front axle' and/or 'rear axle' been mentioned yet? This always make me think of the soapbox carts we made when we were youngsters.

 

This drives me crazy when mentioned in conjunction and under and over rotation 

[BRG]

Yes, it gets to me too.  Makes you think of a leaf-spring live rear axle on the cars.

[Vitesse2]

Front nose ...

[E1pix]

… which is presumably fore of the rear tail.

[JacnGille]

… which is presumably fore of the rear tail.

What's golf got to do with this topic??? 

[10kDA]

It's not only motor sport commentators but tennis commentators infuriate me with their use of "Grand Slam" for a "Grand Slam qualifying tournament".  It's equivalent from saying Oscar Piastri has just won his first World Championship or the Lewis Hamilton has won a record 104 World Championships.

I want to know what tennis has to do with baseball.

 

???

[E1pix]

What's golf got to do with this topic??? 

Yer waaaay off-topic, Golfs are Volkswagens.

[Ray Bell]

Front axle? Rear axle?

 

Yes, these exist. But what about 'front windscreen'? 'Rear tail lights'? And the list goes on...

[E1pix]

How about “flat out” when the pedal’s clearly close to vertical?

[john aston]

"Full send " and "backing out of it " are especially irksome , almost as much as the term  'turn ' ('Turn 2 'etc) for corner . Fine in Indiana - but at Silverstone or Spa ? No! 

[Charlieman]

I'll nominate "upgrade", not as an annoyance but as a bad way of thinking. When modifications are made to a car, they are simply that: modifications or changes. There is little testing in F1 nowadays so a change may appear to work in a computer simulation, but there's no guarantee that it works until it has run on the track. If it works, then it can be described as an "upgrade". It's one of the reasons why a change control system is essential in an engineering environment: you need to know what has been modified and what really is an "upgrade".

[GregThomas]

L J K Setright wrote a very good piece about the origins of a lot of motor racing terms and slang. A large proportion of it came from the bike boys at Brooklands.

 

My beef is that there is one term in current usage which has come the opposite direction

 

"Driver" instead of "Rider" for a motorcycle competitor.  This is becoming very common not only in press reports and articles but also even here on this forum.

 

It is simply wrong.

[MCS]

"Full send " and "backing out of it " are especially irksome , almost as much as the term  'turn ' ('Turn 2 'etc) for corner . Fine in Indiana - but at Silverstone or Spa ? No! 

What on earth does "Full send" mean?

[Vitesse2]

What on earth does "Full send" mean?

Harry Flatters?

[kayemod]

What on earth does "Full send" mean?

 

 

 

At least in Dutch, I think it translates as "Let me through or we crash".

[F1matt]

I'm surprised this thread didn't start from the  "Get Go" 

we probably should have started with AND IT’S LIGHTS OUT and then somehow shoe horned the OLD SWITCHEROO into the conversation as well….

[BRG]

Harry Flatters?

He plays for Spennymoor Town FC 

[JacnGille]

Yer waaaay off-topic, Golfs are Volkswagens.

I never heard anyone yell FORE when their VW ran off the road.

[E1pix]

They don’t run, they roll. ;-)

[Allan Lupton]

all sorts of things that are being competed for are "up for grabs" these days. This morning it was Olympic medals.

[BRG]

I never heard anyone yell FORE when their VW ran off the road.

No, although you might often hear another four letter word starting with F....

[AJCee]

all sorts of things that are being competed for are "up for grabs" these days. This morning it was Olympic medals.

And they all seem to be “meddling”…. It’s like a bumper edition of Scooby Doo.

[JacnGille]

They don’t run, they roll. ;-)

Only yours! 

[kayemod]

And they all seem to be “meddling”…. It’s like a bumper edition of Scooby Doo.

 

I remember Garry Glitter doing some meddling somewhere in the Far East, Thailand I think it was.

[cpbell]

At least we won't be stuck with the problem cricket has adopted...

 

(Doug might like this)

 

There 'batsmen' have become 'batters', but we'll always - I imagine - have 'drivers'.

 

Mind you, some time ago the 'mechanic' became the 'engineer'. In some parts of the world there's the same problem with describing the person who works on your road car. 'Technician' has become popular.

Unless one has a problem with women's cricket, this seems fine?

[E1pix]

Only yours! 

So funny I forgot to laugh.

[JacnGille]

So funny I forgot to laugh.

Sue the deer.

[DogEarred]

I didn’t realize the deer was called Sue…

[Doug Nye]

"And Verstappen's just gone PURPLE!!!!!!!!"...

 

CND

[opplock]

He may well have done so in Hungary and burst a few blood vessels. He certainly turned the airwaves purple. His fluency in Anglo-Saxon is impressive. Merv Hughes would be proud. 

[E1pix]

"And Verstappen's just gone PURPLE!!!!!!!!"...
CND

While hesitating to be too particular, that’s more of a lavender.

[Doug Nye]

Sorry pardon.  Restricted choice of print tints on this website old boy...  I was seeking the International racing colour of Egypt, long-since discussed here.

 

DCN

[nicanary]

Risen like a Phoenix..........

[E1pix]

Sorry pardon.  Restricted choice of print tints on this website old boy...  I was seeking the International racing colour of Egypt, long-since discussed here.
 
DCN

I was just kidding, Doug, no harm meant.

[d j fox]

Spa this weekend…Who else groaned at the words “Turn 5”? Oh and “ Turn 1” …. Please!

[B Squared]

I'm not too sure that those doing commentary are as astute in following a race as the majority at TNF. I just try to ignore it and enjoy the fact that we have nearly every session and race televised. I grew up where you could only read about it and in the United States, IndyCar was shown a week or two later, cut up and edited on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

ESPN beginning coverage in this country in the 1980s of every Formula One race was also a great gift. I just try to enjoy the races, ignore the BS comments and what the heck, sometimes it's fun to do a little bit of shouting at the TV when you're by yourself to correct the fools.

[sabrejet]

An annoying trait which I observe in evidence at the Olympics today: when interviewed post-event on their performance, a number of competitors began with, "You know what...".

 

Where has that come from? This phrase seems to have replaced "So..." as the starting point for a conversation.

[Porsche718]

An annoying trait which I observe in evidence at the Olympics today: when interviewed post-event on their performance, a number of competitors began with, "You know what...".

 

Where has that come from? This phrase seems to have replaced "So..." as the starting point for a conversation.

 

It's better than ... "yeah ... nah" ... when sportsmen (or women) are asked about their performance (or lack thereof).

[10kDA]

An annoying trait which I observe in evidence at the Olympics today: when interviewed post-event on their performance, a number of competitors began with, "You know what...".

 

Where has that come from? This phrase seems to have replaced "So..." as the starting point for a conversation.

I think it's become The Current Thing to avoid that awkward dead air while someone tries to think of what to say. See: "Well..." and, as you mentioned, "So..."

 

One or both (I can't tell their voices apart but I know it's not Diffey) of NBC's Indy Car commentators habitually use "You know what..." when he or they paraphrase something a driver has told them or when they project a driver's verbal rendition of a recent on-track move.

[john aston]

I first heard the rhetorical 'You know what ?" about 15 years ago, when (don't ask me how this happened ) Simon Cowell used the phrase to preface his every verdict on some wannabe star . It is being superseded by the more abrupt "Look" , much loved by politicians facing a tough interview . It is now being used increasingly by sports folk . 

[Nick Planas]

I first heard the rhetorical 'You know what ?" about 15 years ago, when (don't ask me how this happened ) Simon Cowell used the phrase to preface his every verdict on some wannabe star . It is being superseded by the more abrupt "Look" , much loved by politicians facing a tough interview . It is now being used increasingly by sports folk . 

Bring back Kimi and his "Bwoah" - it uses less syllables 

[BRG]

Spa this weekend…Who else groaned at the words “Turn 5”? Oh and “ Turn 1” …. Please!

You should have watched on Channel 4 where they knew the names of all the corners, including the one that Crofty persists in calling "No Nme"

[B Squared]

For all the complaints, I want to commend Martin Brundle, not necessarily for any speaking, but for his choice of track location while reporting during the second practice session at Spa. He was on the driver's right at Eau Rouge where he stood between Armco and a concrete barrier past the catch fencing and past the marshal's post. It's been quite some time since I have seen footage that reminded me so much of being on corner duty for Indy cars 30 years ago. Chances are slim, but if anything went wrong there it was not going to be good.

[E1pix]

I’ve noticed that anyone starting a sentence with “Listen…” never do.