And let's not overlook the grammar error...

ROTFLMAO

Ian

that stuff is one of my biggest pet peeves.  While most people will not ever notice that mistake, it drives me nuts.  Either I'm anal or he's a moron, pick one 

It doesn't drive me nuts most of the time (except at work, where I get paid to notice this stuff), but this guy is a writer for a living, for crying out loud! It damages credibility, in my opinion.

Kelly

(And I don't think you're anal! )

exactly.  It does not bother me in places like this, on a message board, because of the informal setting.  But when it is someone's profession to write, and they cannot do it correctly.....well, they should just give it up.

I'll probably end up as an english/grammer teacher  LOL

I'm not a fan of grammatical or spelling errors, but I don't think any information is lost by this mistake. If it doesn't make it difficult to understand, then I say there's no harm. Are you attacking him on tiny errors just because he dissed Lance? Because I've seen Lance quotes that aren't exactly linguistically perfect. A spelling error doesn't make his statement unsound (though I also think it's silly to compare sports at all), so it's a waste of time paying attention to it.

-dave

if we are being grammatically correct to "peddle" something is to sell something. So it changes the meaning totally. As has been previously stated. The guy is a writer and should know better.

Ian

I'm not arguing about if his point is lost or not due to a grammatical error.  Obviously his entire arguement is ridiculous anyhow.  His inability to use the correct words points to a "dumbing down" of society. To me that is more disturbing than whether or not he thinks Lance is a great athlete.

His overall point is not lost, no, and I hardly think I was attacking him. What I said earlier is that his credibility is damaged, in my opinion, because he is a writer for a living but has a pretty blatant grammar error in his work.

Kelly

Grammatically and factually incorrect! Clearly, his statements on cycling is based on nothing more than his perception of what the sport is and his obvious bias for football, baseball, and other "mainstream" team sports. I am policy analyst and thus also write for a living. A grammatical or spelling error can occur but is just as easily corrected when I draft a new policy of guideline. However, if I were to write a policy based solely on my opinion with no supporting facts, I would soon find myself on the unemployment line.

;-) Can we pick both??

You know I'm kidding, right--I don't know you well enough to call you anal!! (o:

Dana

Hey that's okay I'm a Policy ANALyst!

Perhaps he meant "piddle," as in down his leg!!

Triman50 -- that remark, after reading this whole thread, cracked me up (as in laughing).....

Evelyn

As an editor, proofreader, professional writer and former newspaper journalist I have to say that when you write five to 10 stories a day it's difficult not to get a typing or grammatical error in your copy. That said, YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE GRAMMATICAL AND SPELLING ERRORS IN YOUR COPY!!!!!! PERIOD.

It is more than a pet peeve, it is an obsession with me. I cannot stand grammatical and spelling errors in publications. They are inexcusable. And I'm no Lance fan or cycling fan one way or the other. I am an English language fan though and the language is going to heck in a handbasket no thanks to the sloppiness of the American media.

Ok, exit soapbox.

Thank you.

Edited by infosteward 2004-07-28 6:04 PM

The media might be getting sloppy in the work they turn in, but I believe that as a whole, we've lost touch with the finer points of writing. Enter e-mail, MS Word, and text messaging, and even though Spelling and Grammar check exists as an option, people don't bother running it. As a proofreader, I have to watch for the exact typographical mistakes as peddle and pedal. I know that my spoken language is not as linguistically precise as my writing can be, but when I'm writing or typing anything, I at least double-check my spelling.

So the point may be: if I can check my spelling, why can't an (obviously) overpaid sportswriter check his?