totally agree x

That explains it.

"She has skated since her teens" is ambiguous, even in that context. It doesn't have to mean she took it up then or that she's been doing it ever since, and note that the article doesn't use the "has been skating since her teens" wording that you do.

Yes, it does look like her tweet is denying the claim in the article, but her tweet says "i certainly have never skated since my teens" which certainly looks like it means never at all since then, not just that she hasn't been doing it ever since.

Still, it remains a somewhat odd way to say it if she never skated before the show. So I still have it in the "we don't know for sure either way" pile.

So no, it has not been totally cleared up.

Perhaps someone who has a Twitter account can ask her.

How has she not said she hasn't herself skated since her teens? Her tweet says "i certainly have never skated since my teens." You seem to be saying she might say that even if she had herself skated since her teens.

But no, to deny "she has skated since her teens", she has to say she hasn't.

She needs to ignore the papers . If there is a story in this year's series its not that they managed to find someone really good its that for two years they haven't been able to find anyone else much good at all or if they did they haven't matched their potential .

Dan has been on DOI since the first series and he gets on well with the other pros. Why would he suddenly decide to be standoffish this year? It doesn't make sense to me.

'Rivals claim she has been skating since her teens' would only be ambiguous if there was a prior claim from her that the last time she had skated was her teens, ie 'rivals claim she has been skating since her teens'. In this case, where the remark is not in answer to such an assertion, grammatically it is not ambiguous. It means rivals are saying that she began skating as a teenager and has continued with it ever since.

The use of 'never' instead of 'not' in her reply is, however, ambiguous. But she doesn't make her living from writing and is perhaps not the best-educated person, and she is speaking on an informal medium.

I feel that I have read this before (I think it must have been here at DS), maybe a couple of weeks ago. Not the whole article, with Hayley's reactions, but certainly the part about other contestants being resentful etc. Does no one else remember that? Am I having deja vu?

You wouldn't catch Hayley exploiting her injuries. Oh dear me, no!

Are you thinking of someone who has been eliminated or someone who is still in the competition?

No, what the article said -- "she has skated since her teens" -- is grammatically ambiguous and does not have to mean she began as a teen and has been skating ever since.

Notice, btw, how you have to keep changing the wording to make your point. The article does not say "Rivals claim she has been skating since her teens"

The article says "Rivals claim she has skated since her teens."

"Has skated", not "has been skating".


Are you suggesting she might have skated at various times since her teens and is denying only that she began skating as a teenager and has continued with it ever since?

I think that would be a very strange line for anyone to take in her defense, but Pinkvelvet seemed to be taking a similar line.

However, my point about her reply wasn't about "never" vs "not". I don't think that detail of the wording makes much difference.

In any case, the more important point about her reply was that it's a bit odd to talk about her teens if she hadn't skated at all before the show. Remember that the article also says: A Dancing on Ice spokesman said: "Hayley has never been a standby contestant. She told us she has never skated before."

The claim is that people bitch and as Hannibal Lecter tells us to bitch wih someone we need to be near them. Another claim is that Hayley is remote which geographically she is apart from when she and Dan commute South for the weekend and that alone explains why some people are closer than others.

I wouldn't worry - the people who actually do best on DOI seem very close to each other and its a better club to be in.

I think the article is utter rubbish, used to try and create some drama that just does not exist. End of

Sorry, not changing the wording to suit my point. Nothing so cunning, just posting from my iPhone and the screen is too small to let me see the whole of the preceeding conversation.

'Rivals say she has skated since her teens' means exactly the same thing - that she began skating as a teenager and continues to do it. Again, unless it is in response to a claim that the last time she skated was as a teenager, in which case it might mean 'rivals claim she has skated since her teens'.

But it isn't.

So it probably doesn't.

If she HAD skated since her teens, then she surely would be a heck of a lot better than she is just now...and she is NOT exactly terrible at the moment, but defo not "I've been skating since I was 13" standard. Let's face it...

I know, but 'a contestant' is alleged to have made that claim.

I'm not worried. I don't really care whether Hayley is liked or disliked by the other contestants.

Apologies for the two-part reply, Veri, it's this small screen.

Of course I'm not suggesting that she's skated at various times since being a teenager. I'm suggesting that she mentioned teenager in her tweet in direct response to the article in the paper where they brought it up. Consequently, it's not odd at all for her to mention teenage, as the paper brought it up.

But I suspect you are already very well aware of this and are just having some sport with me

Tweet from Stuart Widdall! I think the sarcasm says it all! Good humour, Stuart

Aw bless his wee heart !!!!!

It doesn't mean they're not human, with feelings!!

I don't think the 'journalists' involved would be happy if there were rumours about them, from 'sources' close to their work colleagues, spread about the media

I agree....especially when they type stuff like 'you are hated on this show'

That's really upsetting !

What Kieron Richardson says on this subject (via his twitter):

"In regards to an article today about @Hayleysoraya it's bull shite, Hayley is the life and soul of the group, and is just talented end of x"

Yes. That's getting really personal and unpleasant. By all means criticise their performance on the show, but don't descend into character assassination - whether that's a journo making it up or a fellow competitor hiding behind the anonymity offered.

I didn't say it was cunning or anything like that, but you did write "'Rivals claim she has been skating since her teens' would only be ambiguous ..." when the article said "Rivals claim she has skated since her teens."

The article used "has skated", not "has been skating."

You used similar wording -- "she has been skating since her teens" -- in your earlier post as well.


No, it does not. It is ambiguous. It might mean what you say, but it doesn't have to. That's why you keep having to use different wording when you explain what you think it means.


Notice how the wording in the paper is the "has skated" one. So it not only might mean that in the article, it's what the article actually says!

The article says -- and this is a direct quote from it -- "Rivals claim she has skated since her teens."

It does not have to be a response to an actual claim that the last time she skated was as a teenager to have that meaning.

Well said! Just because someone is a public figure, it doesn't make hurtful comments any less upsetting. Nor should it mean that they have to accept comments like that. No wonder today's society is such a mess if public figures are supposed to take abuse and not respond or get upset.

I do agree with you there the bit in bold. She is not my fave but things like this would be better unsaid even if they are true but don't think they are anyway.


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Agree here too one message rebutting the accusations would suffice and then move on.


Yes that was so sweet of Stuart re the Olympics