Stircrazy wrote:

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steven wrote:

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I'm intrigued. What are "Internet slang scores" and who do you get the feedback from?

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Likewise!   I thought giving scores in matches in which each set is settled without the need for a tie-break, so the "6" or the "7" is taken as read had been going on long before Internet use became widespread.

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Yes, I remember them referring to straight sets scores like that on the BBC coverage of Wimbledon back in the 1980s and I doubt it was a novelty even then. I also remember wondering what they meant the first time I heard it ... then realising after a few seconds.

It's almost indispensable on Twitter sometimes, given the 140-character limit, and the reason I always use it for straight sets t/b-free victories on there is because I think it's likely to be less confusing if I use it all the time than if I only use it when I need to save characters, since that would make it more likely to seem like something special/mysterious to those who didn't already know what it meant.

I accept that it may confuse some people at first sight (like it confused me for a few seconds on first hearing it), but I'd be confident that they work it out pretty quickly and if they don't, getting asked gives me a good excuse to tweet out the answer so that anybody else who has been wondering gets the question answered too.

Jeff Stelling wrote:

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No no no. The use of 3&4 is perfectly common to anyone who knows the first thing about tennis.

I refer to use of nicknames. A lot of people in the group with me who travel around the European ATP 250s used to follow this forum but have stopped due to them being unable to comprehend the nicknames. Which I think is a shame as this is a tremendous forum for British Tennis.

I've allowed myself to get sucked into agreeing to text around the formal results (highlights and big matches) as above to a group that's 9 or 10 strong which can take a fair while and is no longer practicable that my new phone contract doesn't have unlimited texts. (Obviously can just tell them results when we're staying in a hotel together so not as bad as it sounds!) Anyway, they've agreed if I put formal results up then they'll come back here.

I personally quite like the use of Wardinator/Evo/Papa Doc Duvalier(lol)/JWH but each to their own. Eg "Why can't you use Wardinator for Dino too?", "JWH is way too like Tsonga to have any point as a nickname" and "Dan Evans or Evan Hoyt? - get a grip Jeff you ****!" being recent examples!

As for the rant I once heard when my room-mate Colin saw someone banging on about Dr No with no explanation, it still amuses me.

I normally find the best tactic is just to ask on here, it's a friendly crowd!

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Thanks for explaining. Yes, best to ask, since we don't bite (apart maybe from the member whose nickname suggests he spends a fair bit of time in the sewers ) but it is easy to bandy about nicknames a bit too freely without thinking about more casual users of the forum, and I say this as one of the worst culprits!

Formal results do tend to get posted for virtually all matches, which is why I assumed you meant what johnnylad thought you meant. However, I am happy to try to use fewer nicknames generally, except when they are obvious and/or appear to be accepted as completely standard. For example, I would put Boggo, Evo, Slabba, Fitzy (M or F depending on context!) Bally, Hev & JoKo (+ JWH - I think whoever said that was too much like JWT was just being silly! LOL) into that category but not Wardinator, Dr No, etc - indeed, those last two are names we have been told are used for them but I have never seen any real evidence of their use by the players on Twitter.

The problem though is that it is tedious to have to use both names in every single discussion about them or while live scoring on here and, particularly where the GB men are concerned, there is so much duplication that it is hard to use just forenames, e.g.

- Josh (Goodall, Milton, W-H?)
- James / Jamie (Ward, Marsalek, Ireland, Baker, Murray, Delgado?)
- Dan (Evans, Smethurst, Cox?)
- Alex (Bogdanovic, Ward, Slabinsky?)
- Richard (Gabb, Bloomfield?)

Just using surnames somehow doesn't feel right for people we talk about all the time. Neither referring to players by forename only or by surname only would resolve the issue for the Wards anyway, given that there are 2 (or 3) of them and more than one James/Alex/Josh as well! In fact, Wardy / Wardinator were originally used to try to make it easier to tell James and Alex apart when the latter first came on the scene.

However, I will try to be less confusing in future and try to remember that there are people looking in who might be put off if there appear to be too many in-jokes ... though we should be allowed our fun as well, of course.

Intriguing to learn that a group of you travel round the ATP 250s too!  For work or purely for pleasure?