Commentary—Working Ground Zero
 

A shorter road to everything, https://www.speedonthewater.com/comm...g-ground-zero/

Nice read and thanks for all the hard work covering this bad habit we all have.

Matt,

Congrats on the move and getting out of the Blue mess. You are very fortunate to have made all of the friends, "as many of us are", all while being a part of this hobby. Florida/LOTO residence combination is a pretty tough program to beat.

Keep up the awesome work and thank you,

Joe

Matt, that’s a very unfortunate use of the name “Ground Zero,” which will always mean 9/11 and the World Trade Center to patriotic Americans.
please find a different phrase to describe your move to Florida.
With all respect,

Apache Pete

You’re gonna love it. Except maybe in the summer.

Though the site of the September 11 attack has come to be known as "Ground Zero," it is not synonymous with it. The expression is still widely used in verbal and written communication unrelated to the September 11 masscre. So I will have to very respectfully disagree with you.

and the winter traffic on the west coast but I guess compared to CA traffic it might not be that bad.

Matt, I just Googled “ground zero.” The most common meaning is the spot directly below a nuclear bomb detonation.
I still suggest your use of the term to be inappropriate.
Sorry.

I respect your opinion as you're entitled to it, but if you're offended by that. You should retire from the internet...

I hope you are being facious...If not..

Padraig

To be fair; Ground Zero in the title its the only reason I clicked on the story... which I then closed the window.

I can now see almost 24 yrs. after the fact, that the loosening of thoughts & images will occur, but to me, the word "Ground Zero" will always evoke the memory & be synonymous with the day of 9/11.
I don't think Matt intended his travel hardships to equal a day in American sorrow, but his title inference to ground zero did automatically make me think I was going to read something about that day...
was it for click bait or whatever phrase people use today, Matt would only know.. I follow Matt's columns and enjoy them I think he's more professional than that.

i agree fellas that should not be the title its disrespectful to many

Congratulations, Matt. I'm glad that when You picked a place, after logging all those miles, You picked Palmetto.

"...on the north bank of the Manatee River, has low frame-and-brick business buildings and
numerous clapboard houses. The riverfront is alive with fishing and pleasure craft."
Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State (1947)

Boost, others,

"Ground Zero" has been a colloquial phrase since long before 9/11. Hell, I was in a band called Ground Zero in the late 90s. I agree with the sentiment, but I don't want the phrase any more monopolized by the tragedy than I do the rainbow for what it has become.

Thanks. Brad,

Thanks for chiming in, Brad. The term "ground zero" has meant "where the action is" since I started writing and dinosaurs roamed the earth. If I had meant Ground Zero as it applied to September 11, 2001, I would have have used it this way in the my headline 'Ground Zero.'

That said, I appreciate the sensitivity around it and truly meant no offense to anyone. In light of that, though I won't promise never to use it again I won't use it again anytime soon.

BoostBros and ApachePete, I hear you. Thank you for your comments.

Matt, your titles have always been interesting, informative, humorous and sometimes even a bad pun. They are you, they are part of what makes you a good writer and an interesting person.

Padraig
​

I am sucker for bad puns and dad jokes. Guilty as charged.

Thanks for the kind words.

Thanks, Matt.

Pete

While that may be true, after 9/11/2001, the meaning for the majority of people who were at least 10 years old then (35 or older today) probably is associated most with the shock of the attack on America.

A terrible day that will “live in infamy.”

I’m not

Pete,

I don't really know anybody who instantly thinks "9/11" when they hear the term "Ground Zero". As I said, the phrase was around long before that day. It is still used to this day by media, first responders, etc, in emergency triage scenarios when referring to where the most intense activity is or was. The phrase was used, off-handedly, in the moment, and then co-opted by the media. Again, I agree with the sentiment, but we can't just start removing word/phrases because someone used it on a bad day, no matter how bad that day was.

Thanks. Brad.

Brad,

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t immediately equate it with the day the Twin Towers came down.

I’m guessing you’re a lot younger than I am (81).

Pete,

I'm 54. I was almost 31 on 9/11. My age has nothing to do with it. I remember the day clear as a bell. I can tell you where I was, down to the square yard, and exactly what I was doing when the squadron of F-16s scrambled from WPAFB to intercept Fight 93, breaking windows in the apartment buildings across the street from the shop I worked at at the time, and all across Dayton, for that matter.

Honestly, when I think of the phrase, I remember my days in the band I mentioned. I'm pretty sure every single individual in my circle, if I were to ask something about Ground Zero would probably assume I was referring to the band. Or they MIGHT ask, "Do you mean 9/11?", as if correcting me. Speaking of that.... Should we stop uttering the date? Just wipe it from our mouths? Or the phrase "The Pile", as it is also often referred to as? Is that off limits, too?

Trust me. We will never forget. But, when I read the headline, 9/11 never even entered my mind.

Thanks. Brad.

I certainly do.

Every time I am in New York City, I visit Ground Zero and shed some tears.

Is this Ground Zero stuff about Matt leaving the Bay Area for somewhere more affordable and power boating friendly?

(Which, come to think about it, could be pretty much anywhere else in the world)

Marcus,

Matt used the colloquial phrase "Ground Zero", referring to Florida being where the action is, in regard to powerboating, and a few got agitated about it, suggesting it should never be used for anything other than reference to 9/11. :rolleyes:

I suspect Matt is leaving Kalifornia for a number of reasons, not the least of which would be the logistics.

Thanks. Brad.

If on the other hand, your circa 2001 ~ F.D.N.Y. N.Y.P.D. Cantor Fitzgerald employees' occupants of the twin towers deceased or related to deceased, your mind instantly equates ground zero to 9/11/01
ask me how I know?

Ground Zero to me is 9/11. I work with a former Cantor manager who was in one of the other buildings that morning for a meeting...close call for him. Everybody around here knew or knows someone affected by that day.

Sometimes, you have to go deeper than a Google search, This is from the current version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dict.../ground%20zero

For those who don't care to open the link provided:

1
: the point directly above, below, or at which a nuclear explosion occurs
2
: the center or origin of rapid, intense, or violent activity or change
broadly : center sense 2a
the party town that served as ground zero for those corporate … bashes—Rich Eisen
3
: the very beginning : square one

Note the second and third definitions. As I used it, the expression is applicable. (The example cited in the second definition supports this.)

All sensitivities duly acknowledged as I already did above, "everyone I know," when used to prove a point, presumes you know everyone. None of us do. So when it comes to word definitions I use the dictionary. When it changes, as it often does (the dictionary is only as good as the last published issue as English is a constantly evolving language) I change word choice with it.

I've made my position clear and supported it factually. I doubt I've changed any minds, but that wasn't my objective.

Best to all.

plus those of us from ny or living in ny we hear it brought up much more often on the newz or in papers its almost a weekly thing

I don't think anyone here gives a **** what the Webster dictionary says the term means. Your arrogance gets in the way of understanding many people's feelings about that day and what it means to them. But hey, stick to your guns about this very non important self reflecting article.

I'm a New Yorker (long island). EVERYONE in the tri state area thinks of the attack area when the words Ground Zero are said. I know someone that was killed there, trying to help others(NYFD). I have many friends and family that were directly involved that day.

I would never think of those 2 words as anything else.

I understand you guys getting upset. But the term ground zero does not belong to New York or to the location 9/11 happened. Ground zero is also used when describing the location of a catastrophic nuclear explosion. I get the sensitivity of the term, but it is still a general term to be used in multiple applications. But Matt used it correctly and he isn’t being arrogant about it.

Stop the post was used as bait to open it the end! Not smart as after 911 term relates only to horrible attack on the whole country! Carry on:hitfan:

Congrats Matt and enjoy!

I'm in Ffld county CT, I have family that lives there as well as family and friends that live and commute.

For those of us (f.d.n.y.) who worked that day, were asked. What's the first thing that comes to your mind when I say the word Ground Zero?... if your the lucky one & your memory can get over that horrible day, then of course the word "ground zero" will equate to other
definitions and vaguely still remember to include 9/11....but not for me bro, it will always & always be synonymous with 9/11.....most horrible chapter in my life. I understand that not everyone feels or believes that, that word is singularly attached to 9/11 I get that, but in
defense to those of us who feel an involuntary reaction to that word, than most can understand the feelings attached to the title word in Matt's article.

Headlines are designed to get people to read stories ... the goal is to be read ... but you're just flat out wrong when it comes to my intention. How can you even presumeto know my intention. You don't know me. You don't know anything about me.

I have been polite. I have acknowledged the strong feelings expressed here. I have supported my choice using the literal secondary and tertiary dictionary definitions of the term (got called "arrogant" for citing the dictionary) without getting defensive. And I'm still not.

I used a term I have used for 35-plus years with zero intent at any sort of trickery or sensationalism or "click bait," whatever that means.

But when you question my integrity, I take exception. So don't read me. Based on your comment, we'll both be better off.

Seems like a win-win to me. Have a fine day.

Matt is already fitting in as a Floridian! Ex-California guy pissing off New Yorkers! :D