Phil Bull turning in his grave

You are not being, "pedantic," - you are being both observant and aware.

Whoever wrote that - should NOT hold the privileged position that they so do.

The Timeform organisation is equally culpable - as there would appear to be NO sub-editing of the output.

Oh dear     
Should I pay £75 for their/there/they're latest anuall ?

privileged position? they are writing shitloads of horse racing copy daily on a modest wage...they're hardly members of Parliament

Shouldn't be writing owt for a living if ya cant use the correct spelling of words.

"Muted" and "sighting" aren't even the correct words, never mind the correct spelling of words.

considered may have been a better word,other than that i think you have too much time on your hands gentleman

Sighting phonetically ok, just spelt wrong. Muted doesn't even sound like mooted.

*gentlemen

If I'd have produced garbage such as that I'd have been embarrassed and shamed to see it in print. Oh and in my formative years in my professional career flayed, metaphorically, to within an inch of my life.

What's happened to the concept of having pride in producing accurate , readable and reasoned output?

Standards have slipped to such an extent that we now view as normal that which, a few years ago, would have regarded as completely unacceptable.

....Would have been regarded.....

correct use of commas though pike

as in the sentence should make sense if the words contained within the commas were taken away

Its not a slip of the keyboard guys; to have written "muted" for "mooted" and "sighting" for "citing", displays a pre-existing ignorance of the correct form. The understanding was present but not the education. But to be clear, my original point was to draw attention to the fact that this is TIMEFORM ffs, not some wet behind the ears undergraduate homework exercise where these thinks are all too common. TF has a history founded on the unshakeble values of it's founder - and it's being swept away before our eyes.  Makes me very sad!

"things" - oh dear - my own sub-ed is out this morning!!

"It's" founder?

"these thinks"?

90% of the population think should've is written as should of, steerforth. There is no hope.

Good spot Paris - "its founder" is correct as there is no apostrophe in the possesive form. But I hope you agree we're in more trick territory with that one!

Not many English degree holders on this thread imo.

I take the main point of the OP, but I suppose some modern ways of speech are an improvement. My guess is that at least half of the british and Irish population would struggle to comprehend the early BBC newsreaders or even that fkn horrible voice on Pathe news.

Went to the bank yesterday for an appointment. The young girl was punctual and fairly efficient. However, her English was almost worse than mine!
I don't suppose it really matters, but I cannot abide the way many popular media "stars" speak.
In particular, I detest that "sneery tone" adopted by the likes of Sky news or LBC. I know why they do it, but I just don't fkn like it.

Btw, sorry about being three posts too late above.

Rejoice - it's just been corrected - I checked in the hope that someone was reading this thread. Fair play, there is hope for us all.

Whilst I have someone's attention, can I also appeal for Tuesday's write up of the 4.55 at Galway is also corrected. "A steadily-run maiden hurdle that ended up being fought out by brothers Diva Dawn and Dylrow, the former taking it up at the last and getting the better of his younger sibling". Diva Dawn is a mare!

Thank you so much - very much appreciated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6smi2wrGD40

oh for the days when those less talented individuals were described in the black book (then pocket sized and better) and the annual "Racehorses of ...." as "useless", "of no account" and "a thorough jade". You knew where you stood when Phil Bull was doing the comments.

If I'd have produced garbage such as that I'd have been embarrassed and shamed to see it in print.

The point is that the English language, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread.  I believe Phil Bull was a teacher previously so not surprising he was a scrupulous writer. 

Just to go slightly off topic, when Phil Bull first started Timeform he done the comments and D1ck Whitford done the ratings.  The partnership didn't last and Whitford later went on to do the ratings in the Sporting Life.

Back to topic, any serious writer, in every sentence he writes, should ask himself several questions:

What am I trying to say ?
What words will express it and could I have made it clearer ?
Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly ?
Could I have put it shorter ?

But today with text and twitter etc the English language is in a bad way......

Just to go slightly off topic, when Phil Bull first started Timeform he done the comments and D1ck Whitford done the ratings

Oh dear .......

Sep 11, 2015 -- 8:30PM, Hound-Dog-2 wrote:

The point is that the English language, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread.  I believe Phil Bull was a teacher previously so not surprising he was a scrupulous writer.  Just to go slightly off topic, when Phil Bull first started Timeform he done the comments and D1ck Whitford done the ratings.  The partnership didn't last and Whitford later went on to do the ratings in the Sporting Life.Back to topic, any serious writer, in every sentence he writes, should ask himself several questions:What am I trying to say ?What words will express it and could I have made it clearer ?Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly ?Could I have put it shorter ?But today with text and twitter etc the English language is in a bad way......

did the ratings

didn't say I was a scrupulous writer, haven't got a degree in English.

Standards are dropping, it's a fact !

has been asked some big questions in her short career but seems to be finding her feet now, her pedigree pointing to her thriving on this longer distance, a half-sister to Doncaster Cup winner Samuel, and so it proved as she followed up from her listed success last time, still not looking the finished article but showing a good attitude where it mattered, grinding this out despite some early over-exuberance; mid-field, didn't settle fully early, but began to make headway over 2f out, challenged Melodious approaching final 1f, stayed on into a narrow advantage entering last ½f, kept going well, looking better the further she went; retirement was mooted in the immediate aftermath of the race, with connections citing a lack of suitable opportunities against her own sex as the main reason, though that seems slightly premature, as more progress should be forthcoming as she continues to fill out her considerable frame and has her stamina further tapped into, it not out of the question that she could make up into a Cup horse if kept in training next season.

Best thread I've seen here for years. Who knew we were such an educated bunch?

Just a thought: could the decline in liquidity here be linked to the decline in the standard of written English
in betting literature? It looks like there's a correlation.

still cant beat timeform for me, i wouldnt have a good bet without it.as a back up to what i see and think tho

They lost my trust when they made Frankel,a horse who was only once run out of his comfort zone,the best of all time.

i use timeform arseroll as it relaxes me when i read it,i find it easier reading than some of the supercilious bile on the bf forum

what is the point of language? to communicate meaning

did anyone miss the intended meaning in the OP?

if I was subscribing to timeform which I dont, id be more concerned with the racing knowledge of the employees than their grammatical correctness and spelling

its a silly mistake from the writer but ultimately there is no harm done as the meaning is received as intended

I would just move on and completely ignore something like this, it wouldnt even register with me and in fact it didnt when I first read it, my brain doesnt take much notice of irrelevancies

i concur.your brain doesnt engage with much

'I find it easier reading than some of the supercilious bile on the bf forum'......



irony seems somewhat lost on you !

oneyallbeenwaiting4 11 Sep 15 22:33 
what is the point of language? to communicate meaning

if I was subscribing to timeform which I dont, id be more.....

I would just move on and completely ignore something like this, it wouldnt even register with me and in fact it didnt when I first read it, my brain doesnt take much notice of irrelevancies
-------------

Just as you ignore - apostrophes - which, also, don't appear to register with you.

it does register with me, its a choice I make not to use them

@salmon spray LOL

Frankel untouchable from 7f to 10f. Every serious rating organization acknowledged that. As for comfort zone, you won't see another QA win by more than 10 lengths, you won't see the Judd. International won in such manner from world trotter SNA and G1 performer Farhh and you won't see and probably never has a Guineas won in such manner.

As for his last race on proper SOFT ground, well you can see nowadays `superstars` avoiding 1 mm of rain, KG ground was good and raceable by any horse with 4 legs and yet GH was taken out, like GLN for the last 2-3? races, probably both tomorrow. What about the US overhyped the Pharoah who races on round & dead flat tracks and given an 136(now 134 apparently) rating by TF, now that is a JOKE, that horse wouldn't be able be competitive in a G2-3 in Europe, yet given such high praise because he won 3 races in 2 months, wow what an accomplishment..

You're not very old are you timtin ?

yes not old enough to have seen Brigadier or Nijinsky with my own eyes.. you have a story about how they're better than Frankel? Because I have a story about how anyone has a favourite horse.. mine isn't Frankel btw ;-) OH and btw I do regard Sea Bird as overrated if that makes you feel any better..

Good spot sfbtw! My lame excuse is that I was using an I Pad on a train.....

True albeit inadequate I accept.

Were you driving it?

Yes, his I Pad has a ratcheted handle !

I was merely trying to articulate the difficulty of typing on an I Pad whilst aboard a rattly UK train gentlemen!

No, I was not driving it Saddo. Would love to though!