Bemused - why "Bobsleigh - Women's Two-man" and not "Bobsleigh - Two-woman"?
Posts tagged 'Olympics'
Mexed mitaphors
WTF is a "rocket-surgeon"?
BBC iPlayer - Women's Ski Halfpipe Final - Marie Martinod's run, at about 2 hours 44 minutes in.
And the scores for Commentator Competence are in - Artistic Impression: 100.00 Technical Merit: 0.00.
Noun-to-verb tolerance
I'm learning to live with The Beeb's fervent uptake of sport-verbs derived from sport-nouns. During previous Olympic Games broadcasts I used to baulk at "medalling"*, but during the current PyeongChang (IOC) / Pyeong Chang (BBC iPlayer) / Pyeongchang (BBC websites) broadcasts I've begrudgingly accepted not only "medalling" but also "podiuming"* as tolerable, even though they are both ugly words which I'd never use except in angst. After all, do we hill-walkers not use the words "summiting"* and "backpacking"* without fear of reproach?
But I draw the line at absolute bollocks such as "Whoppertron!"*, another word foisted on the world by those whose skis seem to outnumber their I.Q.. As far as I can determine, the word was introduced to the Beeb's audience by a pundit at the Sochi games. Today it was Ilia Burov's third round Aerials display that invoked it.
And as for the Beeb's curling pundit who was of the opinion that the Mixed Doubles is "a young man's sport", or something similar, well, she should be ashamed of herself. I had to leave the room to rant alone.
The world's finest winter athletes deserve better.
Anyway, I'm off to the kitchen to do some "kettling"* and "chairing"* while "laptopping"*. Luckily, we don't have a dog.
* correct spelling/punctuation unverifiable
My legs are grey, my ears are gnarled, my eyes are old and bent.
Apologies for the lack of regular posts. I fear that I'm becoming a virtual hiker...
Outdoorsy stuff
For me it's all on hold after the latest consultation. The expert reckons that I might have to wait another six months for my insides to heal fully, only then will they consider a further procedure to remove the tags and piles that were caused by the original op. Any exertion aggravates said tags, leading to inflammation, infection and blockage, this means that I only get limited exercise which in turn has led to significant muscle-loss and a reduction of core body strength. I'm now so unfit that wielding the vacuum-cleaner for only 10 minutes on Wednesday resulted in me straining my back and now I'm confined to quarters and popping the Ibuprofens. Looks like our week in Skye later this month will be a sightseeing tour rather than an opportunity to assault some classic ridges and peaks.
Olympics
Well, I have plenty of time to watch the events on the box as I'm pretty much a captive audience. Anna's down The Smoke right now on a school-trip, she was in the basketball arena this evening watching Team GB v France and Team USA v The Czech Republic, where the Beeb's camera caught her and her friends doing their bit of a magnificent Mexican Wave. After overnighting at Eton College she'll be spending the morning in Greenwich Park watching the equestrian events.
Astronomy
I have plenty of time for this too, but the weather's been naff at night. On the odd occasions when it's been cloudless the jetstream has been playing havoc with the seeing - the last time I imaged the Moon it looked like someone was pouring water over it:
Hailstorm damage
The Loss Adjuster's been around and we have agreed terms. We've already been paid out for damage to the outbuildings, primarily because I'd done the pricing-up myself, but we're still waiting for builders to provide quotes for the repairs to the house roof and the windows. There's so much property damage around here that we're on a long waiting-list for repair-work, we're looking at mid- to late-September at the earliest.
Ah well, never mind, things could be worse.
Past the sell-by date
You've probably seen this ad on yer telly:
If so, you might have wondered what it's all about.
On the face of it, it's an ad about how National Lottery funding has helped one K. Edwards to represent GB in the 2012 Olympics as an 800m runner. It's oddly anachronistic and we still can't figure out why her mum looks so old at the end of it, but I suppose that only the nit-picking few would be bothered by that.
Of course, K. Edwards doesn't really exist. The ad is based on the story of Team GB athlete Jenny Meadows and her mother Barbara, who was also an athlete, but unable to compete in the Olympics because of a lack of funding. The Meadows are played by actors and the story is narrated by the mother, looking back at their lives.
Here are a couple of clickable quotes from the world of the meeja:
The ad was first aired on June 11th, is still on the box today and is scheduled to run until July 13th.
Admirable stuff.
Until you consider the fact that on July 3rd Jenny Meadows was omitted from Team GB...
So, lots of funding yet no possibility of an 800m result for Jenny Meadows. Or for Marilyn Okoro, Emma Jackson and Jemma Simpson.
Surely the National Lottery folks should stop peddling this ad. It has become so detached from reality that it could be considered a lie.
