Whackos Running Cyclingnews?

"Tom Kunich" cyclintom@yahoo. com wrote in message
m...
Why is it that the editors of Cyclingnews don't seem able to actually
edit?

Spelling and misused words and completely incorrect sentences are
quite common. And most of them have to be pretty bad if I notice them
since I am attuned to Internet-ese and tend to overlook spelling,
punctuation, and structural errors because they're so common on the
groups.

But just read this:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features....ulich_nov19_08

Bobby Julich is certainly someone whose point of view will be of
interest. So how is it that there are so many errors in his article?
Can Cyclingnews really believe that they can publish an author's
submission without editorial inspection? Or is it that the editorial
staff don't know how to write?


Bobby just needs a quick tutorial on William Safire's rules for
writing...........

a.. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
b.. Don't use no double negatives.
c.. Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate;
and never where it isn't.
d.. Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its
not needed.
e.. Do not put statements in the negative form.
f.. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
g.. No sentence fragments.
h.. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
i.. Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
j.. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great
deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
k.. A writer must not shift your point of view.
l.. Eschew dialect, irregardless.
m.. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
n.. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!
o.. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences,
as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
p.. Hyphenate between sy-
llables and avoid un-necessary hyphens.
q.. Write all adverbial forms correct.
r.. Don't use contractions in formal writing.
s.. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
t.. It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms.
u.. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb
is.
v.. Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the
language.
w.. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
x.. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
y.. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
z.. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular
nouns in their writing.
aa.. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist
hyperbole.
ab.. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
ac.. Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you
are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
ad.. Always pick on the correct idiom.
ae.. "Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'"
af.. The adverb always follows the verb.
ag.. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable
alternatives.

Phil H

In article
,
wrote:

On Nov 19, 11:41*pm, "Tom Kunich" cyclintom@yahoo. com wrote:
Why is it that the editors of Cyclingnews don't seem able to actually edit?

I don't want to be completely negative, so I should say that I like
how they have stuck to British spellings, though it is weird to read
Armstrong in an interview when he says stuff such as: "I will stick
with my usual programme."

No, that's a proper transcription. It's a little-known fact that as well
as learning how to speak French, Lance also spent some time learning how
to speak English.

As I said last time, what cycling news needs is some real English
speakers such as "Ted van de Weteringe".

Yes...my meme is spreading....

P.S. If you think this is bad, then how can you read current
scientific literature which is seems to be mostly written by TOEFL
graduates? A growing number of academics now communicate in this low
level English since most of them can't talk to anyone else in their
native language, since in many smaller countries it's impossible to
get a permanent research position, so becoming a scientist means
exile. In some fields, English has become the only language, I did a
search for M-Theory a while ago and I couldn't find a single French
reference despite hundreds of people working in the field in French
speaking countries.

This is perfectly natural: English has become the Lingua Franca of the
world.

At this point, I think it's not so much that the French and the Chinese
and the Indians use English so the Anglosphere can read their papers,
they do it so they can read each other's papers.

* * *

An anecdote: I'm notoriously a bit of a mumbler and have a poor ear for
accents, so I tend to hash up my conversations with ESL speakers. I had
to pick up my car from a mechanic's shop (my father-in-law had dropped
it off).

The Asian mechanic I was talking to (I needed to get the key back) had
no idea what I was saying, and didn't know anything about the car. So I
phoned my father-in-law to confirm everything.

My father-in-law has been in Canada longer than I have been alive, but
his first language is Greek, and he still speaks with an accent.

I convinced the mechanic (more or less by pantomime) to take the phone
from me. Here's what the conversation sounded like from my end:

"WHAT?" "What?" "Uh-huh."

Then he walks over to a toolbox, picks out the keys, and hands them to
me along with the phone.

I can't find it now, but I remember reading of a study that found
ESLers, even from different first languages, could generally understand
each other better than they could understand native English speakers.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

"Robert" wrote in message
...
"Tom Kunich" cyclintom@yahoo. com wrote in message
m...
"Robert" wrote in message
...
Jeff once told me they don't have the time or cash to proofread since
they used to work with a fraction of what they need for operating costs.
They do it once over, that's it, but that was years ago.

When Jeff was working on that stuff it was reasonably accurate. Now on
many articles it is so bad that it makes the writer (in this case Julich)
look stupid when they are not.

Bobby made a point in saying that he wasn't a writer. While that's true
he obviously is someone with judgment and my guess is that he will
improve his writing considerably over time. And since he's a great
insider, I think that he will have a lot of good stuff to write.

But that doesn't forgive the idiot editorial staff at Cyclingnews.com.

And how does editing at CN compare to Velonews in your opinion?

I don't read Velonews. They tried to kill race reporting on the internet
back in the early days and I swore I'd never read them and sure enough I
don't save occasionally by accident when I follow some complicated
re-direct.

"Philip Holman" wrote in message
...

p.. Hyphenate between sy-
llables and avoid un-necessary hyphens.

The dictionary tells us to hyphenate outside of syllables.

"Amit Ghosh" wrote in message
...
On Nov 19, 8:16 pm, wrote:

Like I wrote some time ago, the problem is that many of the new
writers are "Eurotrash" non-native English speakers with an
approximate command of the language.

dumbass,

that's not true. the errors are there because the of large amount of
material that has to be posted quickly, that and a lot of educated
english speakers don't know how to write and make embarrassing
mistakes.

Do I understand you to imply that a writer need not be competent to write
properly to be employed as a professional writer? Is there an analogue
which suggests that any enthusiast may hold down a job he likes without
having basic skills? Ok.
--
Bonne route !

Sandy
Verneuil-sur-Seine FR

"Sandy" wrote in message
...

Do I understand you to imply that a writer need not be competent to write
properly to be employed as a professional writer? Is there an analogue
which suggests that any enthusiast may hold down a job he likes without
having basic skills? Ok.

Appropriate comments Sandy. Where are you these days?

On Nov 19, 10:47*pm, "Sandy" wrote:
"Amit Ghosh" wrote in message

...

On Nov 19, 8:16 pm, wrote:

Like I wrote some time ago, the problem is that many of the new
writers are "Eurotrash" non-native English speakers with an
approximate command of the language.

dumbass,

that's not true. the errors are there because the of large amount of
material that has to be posted quickly, that and a lot of educated
english speakers don't know how to write and make embarrassing
mistakes.

Do I understand you to imply that a writer need not be competent to write
properly to be employed as a professional writer? *


Dumbass,

In the field of cycling "journalism", yes.

On Nov 20, 4:13*am, "Philip Holman" wrote:
"Tom Kunich" cyclintom@yahoo. com wrote in messagenews:BKmdnVXB79a7C7nUnZ2dnUVZ_szinZ2d@earth link.com...



Why is it that the editors of Cyclingnews don't seem able to actually
edit?

Spelling and misused words and completely incorrect sentences are
quite common. And most of them have to be pretty bad if I notice them
since I am attuned to Internet-ese and tend to overlook spelling,
punctuation, and structural errors because they're so common on the
groups.

But just read this:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features....8/bobbyjulich_....

Bobby Julich is certainly someone whose point of view will be of
interest. So how is it that there are so many errors in his article?
Can Cyclingnews really believe that they can publish an author's
submission without editorial inspection? Or is it that the editorial
staff don't know how to write?

Bobby just needs a quick tutorial on William Safire's rules for
writing...........

* a.. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
* b.. Don't use no double negatives.
* c.. Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate;
and never where it isn't.
* d.. Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its
not needed.
* e.. Do not put statements in the negative form.
* f.. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
* g.. No sentence fragments.
* h.. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
* i.. Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
* j.. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great
deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
* k.. A writer must not shift your point of view.
* l.. Eschew dialect, irregardless.
* m.. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
* n.. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!
* o.. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences,
as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
* p.. Hyphenate between sy-
* llables and avoid un-necessary hyphens.
* q.. Write all adverbial forms correct.
* r.. Don't use contractions in formal writing.
* s.. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
* t.. It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms.
* u.. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb
is.
* v.. Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the
language.
* w.. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
* x.. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
* y.. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
* z.. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular
nouns in their writing.
* aa.. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist
hyperbole.
* ab.. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
* ac.. Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you
are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
* ad.. Always pick on the correct idiom.
* ae.. "Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'"
* af.. The adverb always follows the verb.
* ag.. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable
alternatives.

Phil H

I'll add one of my favourites:

ah. Keep an eye out for the
the hard to see new line repetition.

though this may be going away with the demise of carriage returns.

-ilan

On Nov 20, 4:47*am, "Sandy" wrote:
"Amit Ghosh" wrote in message

...

On Nov 19, 8:16 pm, wrote:

Like I wrote some time ago, the problem is that many of the new
writers are "Eurotrash" non-native English speakers with an
approximate command of the language.

dumbass,

that's not true. the errors are there because the of large amount of
material that has to be posted quickly, that and a lot of educated
english speakers don't know how to write and make embarrassing
mistakes.

Do I understand you to imply that a writer need not be competent to write
properly to be employed as a professional writer? *Is there an analogue
which suggests that any enthusiast may hold down a job he likes without
having basic skills? *Ok.
--
Bonne route !

Sandy
Verneuil-sur-Seine *FR

Even though I have stopped reading L'Equipe since 2005 I must admit
that they all write pretty well. In fact, when I was back in the US
and my French was rusty, I had trouble reading some of the articles, I
especially recall one about Luc Leblanc after he won worlds which was
this weird comparison between him and Jesus, maybe I was better off
then.

-ilan

On Nov 20, 4:24*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

This is perfectly natural: English has become the Lingua Franca of the
world.

About 10 years ago when I organised a series of talks at this
institute in France, I started it off by explaining the choice of
English for the lecturers who were all French by saying exactly that
English was now the Lingua Franca of science, but it didn't elicit any
response at all. I was pretty disappointed and thought I had a "dead"
audience. Looking back, I'm starting to think that it just isn't very
funny. Anyway, the better analogy is that English is like Koyne, the
common language of Western civilization (the Hellenistic world) 2000
years ago.

-ilan