For something so trivial, this really bothers me when listening to the announcers during the F1 races (being an American) Why are the teams treated as a plurality? To me I think of each team as a single entity, but the announcers are always saying Ferrari have, or Ferrari are, or Redbull have, Redbull are..etc Trivial, I know, just sayin lol
Or when the English announcers HAVE to tag an "R" onto everything. Sorry guys it's Felipe MassA not "Masser." Learn how to speak the language you created...
I think we should get George W to teach everyone how to pronounce nuclear. Honestly, I think all you yanks and poms should come down under so we can learn ya's all how to speak. So g'day mate and ava good wee-gend.
I feel the same when I hear drivers commenting on their race and using the royal WE all the time. "WE were in second place when WE decided to pit. After, WE struggled with the new tyre and WE were caught up, bla, bla, bla...." It sounds like if there were several people in the car!! Who started using this stupid WE? In the old days drivers never did that. It was plainly, "I did this, and I did that, I, I and I " which is logic. Mind you, there is nothing that irritates me more than drivers' interviews US-style after a NASCAR of IRL race; that sounds so false, so rehearsed, so forced, that I turn down the sound or I think I would be sick... Who wants to hear the same garbage all the time : " Yeah, I want to thanks my team, we have a bunch of good guys doing a terrific job. I want to thank my sponsors, and my team manager. I want to tanks the mechanics, who worked all night. I want to thanks XYZ who made a terrific car for me to drive. I want to thanks the organisers, bla, bla, I want to thanks Mr XYZ who gave me a chance, bla, bla, bla... I want to thanks my mum who changed my diapers, etc..." And they all reapeat the same stuff. That drives me mad!!! Sorry for the rant, but all I am interested is the RACING, the PR I try to avoid.
The advent of radios, maybe? It's not just the jockeys - The guys on the wall do it too; "we're the fastest car on track", "we're 10 seconds ahead", etc. I think they've simply grown up that way. It is a team sport after all........ Cheers, Ian
Whilst they are individual teams, they all operate as collectives, which automatically gives them a plural status to encompass all the team members. If you do not give the teams a plural status then a statement along the lines of: "Ferrari are trying a different race strategy in order to gain an advantage!", becomes "Ferrari is trying a different race strategy in order to gain an advantage!", and that is blatantly incorrect English because the action being taken, is as a collective of people, not an individual. By giving the teams a plural status, you confirm that the team is made up of more than one member. Take this statement about last seasons WCC for example: "Red Bull: It won another World Constructors Championship in 2012!" This statement depersonalises the effort put in by all the team members to achieve the Championship in 2012, whereas: "Red Bull: They won another World Constructors Championship in 2012!" Instantly acknowledges that the team was made up of more than one member and they are all included in the effort that was made to win the Championship in 2012. It's quite simple really! Now, lets try these old chestnuts out again: The car named Jaguar is pronounced: "Jag - u- wer", and not: "Jag-waah" Tomato is pronounced: "Tom - ah - toe", and not: "Tom - ay -toe" And Z is pronounced: "Zed", and not: "Zee"
+1 Very well said. Except I'm not 100% sure it is actually "incorrect" English - It certainly sounds "wrong" though, which is good enough for me. Cheers, Ian
While we're busy nitpicking: The title of this thread is wrong as well: It is not the Europeans, but the British. In German the singular is used for the teams. As well as in French and Italian I believe.
It also always amuses me when I hear US commentators talking about I-ran, or I-rak, or saying mult-i . On this side of the pond, we say "E-ran", "E-rak", and "mult-e". Tow countries separated by a common language , as one said... During a US-British NATO meeting, our Royal Navy officers were apparently medused by the repeat of the expression FOW POW by one American officer' with none of them knowing what it was. Until it was suggested to them that it meant FIRE POWER !
A TEAM is made up of a collection of people, just like a lot of other things like businesses, cities, political parties. And moreover, a team is singular, it is one entity. I'm guessing here but in the UK, you wouldnt say Pret a Manger are having record sales. Or Chevrolet have Ford in their sights, or The Labour Party are not caving to the demands of the Conservative Party It just doenst make sense to me lol. and I can't STAND the way people mispronounce JagWAR lol
Your guess would be wrong! - That's *exactly* what we'd say, and indeed print. It may not be syntactically "correct" in "American English" (WTF that may be! ) but in English-English your form jars horribly - It's just wrong!..... My Ex had a XJS ad it took me *years* to educate her on the correct pronunciation! Cheers, Ian
I always crack up when the Brits talk about issue, email and routers. "the issue was that the email didn't go through the router" That comment has me in stitches.
And nobody has yet told American drivers that the voice they hear in their ears is not actually coming from their cockpit, hence the we: me and the invisible magic tyre degradation expert pixie.
