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Comments - Minus 4 Letters and a Mousecord
December 31, 2010
Doesn't take long for IKEA employees to start hawking the bikes either - http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/bik/2134568517.html
- Chris, Athens
December 22, 2010
The OED says "reveal" is a noun, dating back to the early 17th century. Just saying...
- Todd, Birmingham
December 22, 2010
koblenz? as in canyon bikes? wow, its all making sense now seeing how there was really nice review of a canyon bikes on this blog a while ago.
- orville, san diego
December 19, 2010
Another word to rant about -- Holistic --- I hate that word
- Peter, Walnut Creek CA
December 18, 2010
Your rant regarding grammatical errors would be more effective if it weren't followed shortly after by the use of "beautyscape" which technically is not a word.
- Ian, Toronto
December 17, 2010
Uhhh, don't you need a noun and a verb to get this party started?
"Last week, in VeloNews's end-of-year highlights issue, just out, that the team members were gluing their own tires the day after the team launch."
- howard, dallas
December 16, 2010
At least you call it the way you see it.
- Drew, Louisville Ky.
December 16, 2010
Is "[n]ever ever[]" a sentence? Ever ever?
- Brian, Cambridge
December 16, 2010
Havent read VeloSnooze in years since they became like Bicycling Rag. Both offer light news and the tests are like ads and not real product evaluations.
- Hung Low, Philly
December 16, 2010
PRO is full fingered gloves, up and over 40c. Awesome when it comes to changing tires and fixing your rig ...especially when your 'team car' aint gonna show. As well, if you type or do anything with your hands for a living, hitting the deck and getting pizza hands aint gonna pay the bills. And from Boulder to Aspen to Bagram, wtf up with LA 'training with the troops'?!? PR at the .MIL level? he's going for some serious body armor to fight the insurgents at the FDA. Gonna be fun to watch that shitstorm ... see you at Toto!
- mrg, sf
December 15, 2010
Welcome to Boulder, where the most important topic of conversation is whether a macrobiotic diet is better for you than a gluten free diet.
Spend enough time walking around in pig shit and you cease to notice the smell.
They don't call it the "People's Republic of Boulder" for nothing. And yes, I've lived there.
- Tom, New York
December 15, 2010
"...as a local newsaper that only publishes good news, a veritable pennysaver rag of bike racing." Ummmmmm....what exactly is a newsaper Mr. Quick, the top fly on the pile which is the 'Rock?
- Peter, Colorado Springs
December 15, 2010
Straight from Apple's dictionary:
reveal
noun
either side surface of an aperture in a wall for a door or window.
- AM, Stockholm, Sweden
December 15, 2010
Love Inner Ring and Whit's Pave. But don't forget the onion of the cycling world, Twisted Spoke! Of course, I am suprememly biased since uhh, I write it. http://www.atwistedspoke.com/
- Matt, San Anselmo, CA
December 15, 2010
You're absolutely correct on the gloves. Frostbite's no fun. And add "efforting" to your list of grammar sins, which I loudly applaud.
- psychochicken, OakPark
December 15, 2010
Last time I checked, Ingvar Kamprad of IKEA fame grew up on a farm in the backwaters of Smallville, Sweden. He possibly didn't go to college at all, and if he did, it was certainly a Swedish school. Instead, he decided to sell flat pack furniture from his dad's barn, and make a buck or two. Though I applaud grammatically correct statements, I don't see how he can be held to the same exacting standards as American corporate Icons since he's got zero English in his background. He's Swedish, and lives in Switzerland... Maybe you should start checking the grammar of our friend Spartacus also...
Gloves are nice, but you get used to cold hands. It's far more important to keep chest & head warm in order to avoid getting sick. Also, I prefer the feel of the levers. Glove manufacturers have this very annoying habit of putting padding in the palm. I hate that, and can't find thin road gloves without padding. If you dress properly it's no problem without gloves down to 35F.
- AM, Stockholm, Sweden
December 14, 2010
I freaking hate gloves. I refuse to wear them except under these circumstances or any combination:
1) temp below 45
2) race 3) aggressive mt bike ride
Now toe warmers are another thing all together-look closely at the picture. As "macho" as I believe my hands are for withstanding the rigors of a gloveless, untapped carbon bar, 50 degree ride, my freaking feet are wimpy. Once it gets below 60 I bust out the wool socks, toe covers, toe warmers, charcoal warmers and neoprene booties as necessary.
- Jason, Metro D
December 14, 2010
having raced for a Podunk team sponsored by the city of charleroi, i must protest. it is not the ugliest city in Belgium. as every belgian knows, that honor was bestowed upon Goma in 1932 in a tightly contested race where Charleroi finished a close second.
- craig, formerly of Charleroi
December 14, 2010
I do love a good grammarian. And the corporate bastardization of language makes for some truly low-hanging fruit. However, while I agree with your sentiment and example of "the big reveal," this word is in fact a noun as well as a verb. It's regularly used in architecture and construction, generally referring to an intentional gap between two surfaces. Like TT form or 'cross dismounts, executed well reveals can be pretty stunning. Sorry...couldn't resist.
- Bike and architecture nerd, Spokane, WA
December 14, 2010
Your blog is better-written and more-engaging than VeloSnooze, grammatical errors and pontificating notwithstanding. It's funny that you should contrast Pelkey and Rogers, since the bad blood b/w them is legendary. But give Charles his due - he's not a "reporter" but rather an editor there who occasionally authors well-researched, interesting pieces. He's also an attorney, a distinction he attained only recently. Rogers is the consummate fan-boy/chamois-sniffer. Word on the street is that he had the information necessary - or at least knew who to ask - in order to have written a proper piece covering Coyle consumption of rh-EPO, but he intentionally did his best to avoid taking to task his friend. Only Coyle's own ridiculousness and the backlash of a thoroughly offended readership pushed him to accurately report the facts.
- JuanP, Austin, TX
December 14, 2010
RE: no gloves
I never wear gloves unless its below 40 and raining. I feel gloves take away an important connection I have with my shifters. I want to feel the shifts when I'm moving the levers and having gloves interferes with this.
I wear goves about 25% of my rides. I've crashed hands first into a thorn bush and had to finish my ride with thorns in my hands. I don't believe in pain.
-Your local PRO rider
- J, Oakland
December 14, 2010
No one want tan lines on their hands, it looks weird and a full season wearing fingerless gloves leaves a nasty stain. Winter sun can clear those marks up – ready for the start of 2011.
- Alex, Sydney
December 14, 2010
Sucks to hear that Chris Bastie left Cervelo...he personally helped me with a R2.5 that had misaligned rear dropouts that caused the rear wheel to rub. Then again, you tend to like a nice guy that gets you upgraded to a R3 for free.
- Todd, Camarillo
December 14, 2010
Using "big reveal" to spoof reality TV? Funny.
Criticizing MBAs for their writing while throwing in an incorrect apostrophe? Priceless.
- Dobbin, Horse Country
December 14, 2010
"Beautyscape" is not a noun. Never ever. It's not even a word!
- GK, CO
December 14, 2010
I applaud your crusade to use proper grammar. Please keep in mind that "Clomiphene" is not a proper noun and should be spelled with a lower case c unless it is at the start of sentence. Same for clenbuterol, testosterone, human growth hormone, erythropoetin, etc. Please feel free to pass this on to every other cycling media outlet that butchers drug names.
-Mike
- Mike, Lawrenceville GA
December 14, 2010
I am pleased that you said it like it is about VeloNews. Their recent online and print articles are a joke for reporting. Their tech reports are appalling reprints of marketing materials. It has definitely gone downhill since Matt P left for Bike radar. The only reason I visit VeloSnooze is the Ask Nick L articles.
- AR, Boulder, CO
December 14, 2010
To be fair, Google is a noun, not a verb.
- grayson, san francisco
December 14, 2010
The Ask is the Offer side of a market. The Ask can be used as a noun. In an example sentence: The bid for that Dogma is $3,250 and the ask is $5,500.
- Mike, Omaha
December 14, 2010
Definitely nothing wrong with the pro in that picture...gloves are not super necessary until it hits about 45 degrees outside and then it gets a bit too chilly. Wearing the earwarmers/headband keeps the head a little bit warmer which makes it a bit more comfortable.
It is really surprising how many people can't man up and go without gloves.
- CK, Cincinnati
December 14, 2010
I'm on to your wicked weekly test here. You post some outrageous diatribe and then sit back to enjoy the comment ride. Love it! Absolutely brilliant! P.S. I would gladly trade the company Christmas ham for a bike any day of the week.....
- Honey Roast, Pork Belly, TX
December 14, 2010
Too bad the full story of the Bahati failure was never reported. The glam high profile launch party and the slick docu short but no apparent financial sponsorship should have had any decent cycling journalist on the story. The events you mention and the well intentioned, but tenuous charitable angle provided added drama. It is not too late VN.
- Dr. Dre, Straight out of Compton
December 14, 2010
Enjoyable as always...BUT if you're pulling out the grammar card, I doth protest and must point out the following tragedy (or travesty, take your pick). I believe a protest is required when somebody uses bold to get on their proverbial soapbox, then makes the same error less than 3 paragraphs later.
"The train from Frankfurt to Koblenz is 90 minutes long"
SO, before you get on the Throne of the Lexicographer and start screaming at that dark-shaded kettle, can you tell me how you converted time to length when measuring the physical object?
- Jefe, Aberdeen
December 14, 2010
Really, so you guys at CC are such grammatical wizards that all you could think of is blasting IKEA for their grammar usage after they decided to give out free bikes to their employees? Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't CC an online bicycle retailer? Why would you tear apart a company that is doing something to promote cycling, even if it's in leu of a cash bonus. Did you guys hook up all your employees with free bikes for Christmas? I didn't think so. Get off your grammatical high-horse look at the big picture, they could have given all those employees McDonald's gift certificates or enrolled them in the Jelly of the Month Club, but you probably would have torn them down for that too. Oh, and by the way I found several typos in your glove descriptions.
- Chaz, Seattle
December 14, 2010
The reveal is a term carpenters use for a piece of trim covering a portion of another piece of trim and leaving a remainder(reveal) showing.
- jim, Troy,NY
December 14, 2010
Is "bonus" a verb now, too?
- Dan, Davis
December 14, 2010
Dang. I had no idea Sutherland was ever busted. Thanks for the heads up.
- Aram, Los Angeles
December 14, 2010
Dude--that was IKEA. Not REI. Which is kind of like railing against people and their grammar: it hinges on attention to detail. FYI.
- Matt, Green River
December 14, 2010
first, and that's super.
- Clark Kent, Smallville
December 14, 2010
Seriously? what'll ?????
- Merriam, Webster
December 14, 2010
I applaud your list of words that should never be used as nouns.
In the same spirit, may I suggest that you also forbid the use of "impact" as a verb?
- Zombie Cucumber, JHole, Wyo.
December 14, 2010
If you read the comments on BikePortland, you'll see something from a local IKEA employee that indicates they got large cash bonuses, benefit bonuses, then the free bike on top of all that.
- Matt, Portland
December 14, 2010
The horrendous language phenomenon you've dubbed "Corporate Ebonics" has been around for a awhile. Until today I never knew what to call it. You have my eternal gratitude.
- Nate, Berkeley
December 14, 2010
Koblenz, Germany = Home of Canyon Bicycles. Nice.
- moosh, mooshi
December 14, 2010
How could you confuse REI with Ikea, really? In any case, I'm sure REI would at least give their employees a decent bike. [See below, sorry.]
- Lee, Campbell
December 14, 2010
"Reveal" has been a noun for over 300 years according to the nearest dictionary I could find. Any carpenter can use it correctly in a sentence--though certainly not as the REI CEO did.
- Andrew, St. Paul
December 14, 2010
not a big deal but I think you meant Ikea not REI in the 7th paragraph. [My bad, it's fixed. I got my all-caps retailers mixed up.]
- Matthew, Brooklyn, NY
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