Yes, well that's what the distaff side of the Olympics is all about, isn't it?

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Sick Left-wing Zealot.

Did anyone else notice the Benny Hill theme being played during the beach volleyball?

Re: "some bitch from Holland".

Moir probably thinks that's friendly banter. Her defence will be: readers will take it in the spirit it was intended — an intent that we're supposed to magically infer.

But would the Mail have cared about context or seen the funny side if a Dutch journalist had called Armistead a bitch?

I see now that the BBC strapline is referring to the 'Women's Double Skulls'. I'd pay to see that...

Am I the only person in the world who gets pissed off with people referring to 'Holland'? They're from the fucking Netherlands. Netherlanders. Or Dutch. As someone on QI said, calling them all as 'from Holland' is a bit like assuming all Britons are from Kent.

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Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

No Andy, you're not alone. But that does make us both pedants.

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Brigate di Transizione

It could, of course, mean that the cyclist was from south Lincolnshire...

For that matter "Dutch" is a misunderstanding of "Deutsch", they are Nederlanders usually Anglicised as Netherlanders.

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

Maybe this ought to be in the "Things you just don't get" thread, but there are are quite a few Olympic sports (all covered by Auntie Beeb) that I really do not get.

Take judo, for example.

It's two blokes (or two girlies) grabbing each other's jacket and trying to trip each other up. I mean, what ?

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

I did judo for about 15 years. It's extraordinarily complex and technical, and demands a combination of strength, suppleness, speed and strategic intelligence that I don't believe you'll find in any other event. But it's not, I grant you, much of a spectator sport.

The strangest elements are the competitive kata (not part of the Olympics, sadly). These are pre-defined sequences of throws, holds or defensive techniques that are performed like a highly ritualised slow-motion dance. They're intended to demonstrate mastery of technique, and can be very, very dull to watch!

I lasted about 3 minutes before my sympathy for that poor woman being continually chucked onto the floor led me to lose the will. Have to take your word for it about the strategic intelligence and all, but to an ignoramus such as I it still looks like two people grappling each others' jackets and tryiing to trip each other up.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

Nah, you're thinking of the coalition.

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

Well it is. But you can reduce most sports to an absurdity. Pay a bloke millions a year to kick a ball between some sticks? Two people somersaulting into water together? You couldn't make it up.

Boxing is the sport I don't get. I think I'd find bear-baiting easier to watch.

Fair point, Ez. You're right, most - all in fact - sport is at base absurd. It's just that some sports are more absurd than others.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

Judo does seem dull once you've watched "Enter The Dragon"

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Sick Left-wing Zealot.