Pedants United

A section to discuss matters not related to Chess in particular.
Nick Ivell
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Nick Ivell » Sun Aug 08, 2021 12:25 pm

A regional accent is to be applauded, so long as it is not utterly incomprehensible.

Simon Rogers
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Simon Rogers » Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:13 pm

Our club secretary informed me the other day about something that has appeared on the website of the supermarket where Poulton-le-Fylde Chess Club play.
Here it is:
" We regret to inform you that the toilets in the cafe are closed. Sorry for the convenience."

Paul Habershon
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Paul Habershon » Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:16 pm

Excerpt from Emma Raducanu's on-court victory interview:
'I hope me and Leylah put on a good show...'

A Levels in Maths and Economics, but what about GCSE English?

No need for any lectures about subject and object - just omit Leylah and see how it works.

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John Upham
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Re: Pedants United

Post by John Upham » Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:34 pm

Paul Habershon wrote:
Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:16 pm


just omit Leylah and see how it works.
Derek and the Dominos would be turning in their graves.
Last edited by John Upham on Sun Sep 12, 2021 11:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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John Upham
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Re: Pedants United

Post by John Upham » Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:40 pm

Nick Ivell wrote:
Sun Aug 08, 2021 12:25 pm
A regional accent is to be applauded, so long as it is not utterly incomprehensible.
Should Chess24 use Stanley Unwin as a commentator?
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Nick Grey
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Nick Grey » Sun Sep 12, 2021 6:58 pm

GO EMMA

Paul Habershon
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Paul Habershon » Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:21 pm

Nick Grey wrote:
Sun Sep 12, 2021 6:58 pm
GO EMMA
Prefer GO, EMMA!

I watched the whole match and was highly impressed by her play and subsequent fluency in the post-match interview, despite my nitpicking post above.

In General Chat I speculated about the apparent lack of line judges. I am told that this was the first event to rely completely on Hawkeye. Even the calls of 'out' were computer generated. No reviews allowed.

NickFaulks
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Re: Pedants United

Post by NickFaulks » Sun Sep 12, 2021 8:21 pm

Paul Habershon wrote:
Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:21 pm
I watched the whole match and was highly impressed by her play and subsequent fluency in the post-match interview, despite my nitpicking post above.
Agreed, in the heat of the moment she was an unusually coherent interviewee.
I am told that this was the first event to rely completely on Hawkeye. Even the calls of 'out' were computer generated. No reviews allowed.
This may be the way forward for tennis, but it will be the end of chess.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.

J T Melsom
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Re: Pedants United

Post by J T Melsom » Sun Sep 12, 2021 8:56 pm

After Paul's reaction to the England football team failing to show sufficient delight at finishing second, and now Emma Raducanu's poor grasp of language, I'm very much looking forward to his insights after the Ryder Cup.

Richard Thursby
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Richard Thursby » Sun Sep 12, 2021 9:51 pm

If line judges have been replaced by Hawkeye in tennis, how soon will other officials be replaced, for example DRS ruling on lbw/catches in cricket without the on-field umpire deciding (so, in the spirit of this thread, not DRS as no decision is reviewed)?

Paul Habershon
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Paul Habershon » Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:33 pm

J T Melsom wrote:
Sun Sep 12, 2021 8:56 pm
After Paul's reaction to the England football team failing to show sufficient delight at finishing second, and now Emma Raducanu's poor grasp of language, I'm very much looking forward to his insights after the Ryder Cup.
Additionally, while still admiring Raducanu's achievement, I disapprove of her not going immediately to the net after the winning shot in order to greet her losing opponent. Instead she behaved like many tennis players and lay on the ground in celebration/disbelief, showing lack of consideration to Fernandez waiting forlornly. This and other forms of gloating are accepted in football and many other sports but would be out of order in chess and bridge. I read that two bridge players were once expelled from the Portland Club after shaking hands in congratulation on bidding and making a grand slam. In tennis all the loser wants to do is get off the court, so neither should Raducanu have delayed the presentation ceremony by going to her box.

J T Melsom
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Re: Pedants United

Post by J T Melsom » Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:47 pm

I was once seen fist pumping in the corner of our club room as we closed in on an important league win. Pure elation. No disrespect was intended and those who saw it were simply amused that anybody got that excited about league chess. I doubt there are many that would expect players to simply walk to the net and shake hands. The myth of treating triumph and disaster the same. Raducanu's journey to her box has precedent too (Pat Cash). It scarcely delayed any ceremony as the stage had to be assembled and the dignitaries collected from their viewing points. Such a shame that you seem determined to find fault when the vast majority see a moment of immeasurable sporting excellence and share in the innocence of the emotion displayed.

Paul Habershon
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Paul Habershon » Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:49 am

J T Melsom wrote:
Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:47 pm
I was once seen fist pumping in the corner of our club room as we closed in on an important league win. Pure elation. No disrespect was intended and those who saw it were simply amused that anybody got that excited about league chess. I doubt there are many that would expect players to simply walk to the net and shake hands. The myth of treating triumph and disaster the same. Raducanu's journey to her box has precedent too (Pat Cash). It scarcely delayed any ceremony as the stage had to be assembled and the dignitaries collected from their viewing points. Such a shame that you seem determined to find fault when the vast majority see a moment of immeasurable sporting excellence and share in the innocence of the emotion displayed.
That's a good point about the prizegiving scarcely being delayed, and I agree that I was taking the grumpy old man attitude too far. I have already acknowledged Emma's momentous and unprecedented achievement as a qualifier. It is understandable that she wanted to connect immediately with people she knew, her team in the box, especially with the unfortunate enforced absence of her parents (cf the almost ever present Judy Murray). I also praise her poise during her on court interview, saying all the right things. I think Leylah Fernandez was magnificent too - I could see she was upset, but she managed to speak coherently through her disappointment.

I am amused by your chess fist pump; at least it happened away from the board and no doubt after
you had acknowledged your opponent with a handshake (that faraway tradition).

Going back, JTM, to your comment about me expecting the English Euro final football squad to show more delight in coming second, that's an exaggeration of what I wrote. I wasn't expecting smiles and celebration of a 'silver'. It was the way in which most of them immediately removed the medal ribbon from their necks while still in camera shot and in the presence of the UEFA President who had awarded it. Some letters in the press expressed a similar opinion.

Roll on, the Ryder Cup! American wives, invade the green in your high heels!

J T Melsom
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Re: Pedants United

Post by J T Melsom » Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:43 am

Going back, JTM, to your comment about me expecting the English Euro final football squad to show more delight in coming second, that's an exaggeration of what I wrote. I wasn't expecting smiles and celebration of a 'silver'. It was the way in which most of them immediately removed the medal ribbon from their necks while still in camera shot and in the presence of the UEFA President who had awarded it. Some letters in the press expressed a similar opinion.

To be frank, the people who write those sort of letters to those sort of newspapers are not really people I have a lot of time for I'm afraid. There may be a semblance of merit in the view expressed, but expressing it in a paper says far more about the poster and more often than not hints at another agenda.

I said to a friend that had the result of the final gone the other way Emma's Britishness would have been called into question by the social media mob. That there was still nitpicking after her win which included an attack on her use of English was ill-judged on your part. But I've said enough.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Pedants United

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:00 pm

"'I hope me and Leylah put on a good show...'"

Yes, that made me wince a bit, but it is modern usage... After my 8th win at Countdown, I was asked how I felt and I was totally incoherent, and that's at a word game! So I'll let her off, if only for the dignified way both players spoke afterwards. As for her Britishness, she's been here since she was 2, so that's good enough for me. Of course, Andy Murray said he was treated as British when he won and Scottish when he lost!

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