I do share your sentiments about the importance of caring about and practicing proper grammar, but apparently you're not such an accomplished grammar fiend. You give me no choice but to "impune" your credentials.

Sorry itchyghost, but I have to jump in here and point out that jmorrissy's post was spot on. His usage of the word "your" was correct in the circumstance, referring to someone else's post, rather than using "you're", being the abbreviation for "you are".

This is an error I see all the time, even in supposedly professional documents that have been sent out to clients. Unfortunately it seems the education system in many countries now isn't so concerned about grammar. This is a shame when it means that otherwise well educated people make errors (in documents where this should matter) in the usage of the words "to" and "too", "there" and "their" and of course "your" and "you're".

Yes, I am a bit of a stickler for the use of correct grammar, however grammatical errors don't bother me so much on a discussion page like this. I don't blame the people, I blame their education.

Cheers

Camel

I concur. Your write, guid grammer and speling iz reely importint.

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"Language most shows a man: Speak, that I may see thee. It springs out of the most retired and inmost parts of us, and is the image of the parents of it, the mind. No glass so mirrors a man's form or likeness so true as his speech." - Ben Jonson, Timber, or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter.

Camel:

Dude, I was quoting jmorrissy, who used "you're" where he should have used "your." That's what the bar separating the quote from the reply denoted. I just added bold to highlight the somewhat comical error given the circumstances.

I get my jock strap in a bunch very easily about spelling and grammar, but I've learned not to expect others to give a rat's ass.

Back to the issue at hand. I guess I should care more about USAT than good grammar, but I've never done a triathlon in the USA so for now I am just trying to learn about the issues of concern.

Hey itchyghost, I realise what you are saying, but if you look at jmorrissy's post (Post #43) he clearly says "Sorry. Your post was rather....", I figured you were trying to correct him with "you're" in bold.

No big deal really. As far as Jack goes also, I can forgive him for the poorly written e-mail to Dan, maybe it was just supposed to be an off the cuff comment. What I have trouble forgiving is poor grammar and spelling when a piece of writing is important and is clearly going to be critically read by many people, including people that have paid for the document's preparation.

My father told me an interesting story once. When he was young, maybe back in the early '60s, he was reading the newspaper with his father. My father noticed a spelling error and pointed it out to his father. His father was a little shocked and replied (not sarcastically, but seriously) "someone is going to lose their job over that".

I can give a very bad example of poor proof reading today. I am currently learning French and I have a grammar book by one of the major publishers of language material. It's an expensive book, so I would expect it to be good, which it is. But there are so many typos in the book and, in many cases, there are errors that teach the wrong meaning. For example, it has mixed up some of the verb conjugations in the text. This is inexcusable, since it's a teaching book. That's almost as bad as a dictionary misspelling words. I wonder if someone lost their job over that?

Itchy was right. I corrected the post rather than firing up the flame war again. I promised myself I would stop posting on this thread, but I said I'd take my beating and I will. I overlooked the incorrect usage of your/you're, and corrected it when I saw it, after itchy noted it. (I never said I was a perfect grammar fiend.)

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[quote]
...with the history of race directors serving on the board, and shaping USAT policies, would Jack or any of his fellow RDs even be interested in serving on the board if they were required to recuse themselves from all issues that pertained to their business? Without RDs in the policy making positions, we might actually see USAT require officials at all sanctioned races, regulated limits on wave starts, and a real standardized policy on refunds and transfers for sold out races. As long as they can continue to write the rules that they live by, they will continue to run for these positions.

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"that which does not destroy me will only make me stronger" Frederick Nietzsche
andrew peabody
http://BREAKAWAYMULTISPORT.COM

"Can you give me the name of ONE RD that does "generate universal praise" please Mr. Slowman."

as an RD jack is controversial. i know this based on my own business experience with him. my organization contracted with jack back in 1998 to put on a race as part of our national series. i flew people down to dallas twice as part of that process. we've seen how jack puts on races, and how texans view the production of those races.

but, as i said, there are a variety of ways to put on races, and jack's method is one of them. personally, i've got no issue with jack's races. but a subset of texans do. my view is, people ought to vote with their feet. you don't want to go to one of jack's races, don't go. you do want to go, then go.

but then there's rob vigorito, or dave mcgillivray, or tom cooney (kona's new RD) and i could name quite a few for you that are not controversial. their races are beyond reproach, with almost zero complaint. i drop these three names in answer to your question.

jack has a style, and he has a temper. not unlike me. six sherrifs were outside my ranch this morning, dispatched to see whether i needed to be cuffed and sent to jail. this is because of the 20 (un)controlled fires burning adjacent to my forested property this morning; a local fire department which didn't respond to six calls over a 60 minute period; my consequent visit to that FD; and the fire station captain hiding behind his door in fear.

in other words, you shouldn't elect me to the board either.

(unrelated, but, one battalian chief later, two large red trucks finally did get dispatched and out the fires my moron neighbor set).

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I didn't know you could edit posts (I assumed only Dan could do this). I must have missed the original (unedited) post. Sorry itchyghost. Anyway, back to the USAY elections.....

sh**....."USAT"

I just switched back to an English keyboard (from a French one) and it's driving me insane.....but that's a poor excuse (mmmm, humble pie....)

... eeegads. A French keyboard? ...you are doomed to Record9ti's hell - France. LOL