Re: all the usual suspects:

On Jul 1, 5:57 pm, "Vari L. Cinicke" <cini...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jason Catlin wrote:
On Jul 1, 5:39 pm, topspin <goolagong...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 1 July, 22:27, "Vari L. Cinicke" <cini...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Jason Catlin wrote:
On Jul 1, 4:31 pm, "Vari L. Cinicke" <cini...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
number_six wrote:
On Jul 1, 12:08 pm, Jason Catlin <jasoncatlin1...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jul 1, 4:05 pm, Joe Ramirez <josephmrami...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jul 1, 3:56 pm, Trevor Smithson <trevor_smith...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 12:26:21 -0700 (PDT), Jason Catlin
<jasoncatlin1...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jul 1, 2:18 pm, "Vari L. Cinicke" <cini...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jason Catlin wrote:
On Jul 1, 2:05 pm, "Vari L. Cinicke" <cini...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jason Catlin wrote:
On Jul 1, 1:43 pm, Habib <andrew.r...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jul 1, 9:30 am, TT <g...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
bob wrote:
Old Haas, Old Hewitt plus Rod*** battling for the finals here in 2009
with Rafa injured and Fed cruising along as usual.
when they said the field was "deep" i think they were talking about
something else getting "deep." this is truly laughable
bob
This wimby is fucking boring.
--
"Mos Eisley spaceport: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum
and villainy. We must be cautious."
Only for fans of Nadal and the WTA. We're building up to a Murray-
Federer final - not sure how that's counted boring.
It is a real shame not to have Rafa there though. Especially with
Roger going for 15.
I would use pity rather than shame. Shame has connotations that are
unwarranted.
Nadal's return will be eagerly anticipated by the tennis universe.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shame
The fourth definition for shame in this dictionary is "great
disappointment"
I know. I said *I would choose* a different word without the potential
for misinterpretation.
But "it's a pity" sounds like something a non-native speaker would
say. I don't know anyone who uses that
phrase.
I think it's mostly a British, or at least a non-US, expression..
Federer uses it often, including after his 2008 Wimbledon loss.-
Yes, that's what I mean. I've mostly heard it from non-native
speakers. I remember Krajicek used to use it a lot
too. I remember he said "it's a pity I couldn't punish him with my
serve!" after some match with Rafter. It was a good phrase, especially
with the accent thrown in for good measure. ;-)
I assume Fed picked up this usage from his mother.  I have heard it
throughout the English-speaking world, as well a variant, "more's the
pity" which can express regret regarding what did *not* transpire,
rather than what did.
It is ok. JC messed up. Now we can all wonder. What will JC do in this
situation? ;)
You see me as someone incapable of admitting I'm wrong? Au
contraire. ;-)
Actually, I know "It's a pity" exists as a phrase. I just haven't
heard it used much by native speakers, and I'm
a little more traveled than most gringos and have spent time and
worked with quite a few English, some Scots, Aussies, etc. If a non-
American says that that's the phrase they would use, then I stand
corrected.
It really was and is ok. Which of us hasn't been wrong? Variations in
usage are wide enough that many Americans sound like foreigners to me.. I
can follow British accents much better than I can follow someone from
Louisiana, for example. May have something to do with exposure from
movies and BBC, I imagine.
--
Cheers,
vc
As an (old) Brit I would say that here 'pity' and 'shame' are pretty
much interchangeable, just personal preference. They both express
disappointment at an outcome of an action. The fact that Federer
et.al. use 'pity' is probably a sign that as non-native speakers they
use the more exactly correct word.

As native speakers we are more sloppy. I have a guess that might be
true of many languages.

That's true. Maybe similar to saying "you needn't go to so much
trouble"? I know that's taught in English as
a foreign language textbooks.

Non-native speakers have such difficulties figuring out what goes where
in English as opposed to their own native tongues.

"taught in English as a foreign language textbooks"

Believe it or not, that's actually correct, although I should've
written "English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks."
.