England and the United States of America. Two countries separated by a common language.

I must confess a major gaffe in my "Lotus Position" column. I received more responses than for any other column I've written, and most of you kindly pointed out that I repeatedly wrote, "…could care less…" when in fact the correct grammar is "…couldn't care less…" All of you were correct.

Usually I'm able to overcome my American education and write in proper (if not the Queen's) English and avoid unintentional double negatives, triple negatives or even double positives. I generally write in a stream of consciousness mode, and when on a good rant I tend to get things done a lot faster, which leads to mistakes. When I write more deliberately, it takes a lot longer and usually doesn't get completed. I have at least twice amount of columns that were almost completed as to those that were published. But that still doesn't excuse a stupid and infuriating mistake. I'm one of those that despair at the increasing ignorance of a majority of my country mates to follow anything but the most basic rules of grammar, so my mistake is especially galling to me.

One reader, the sole exception to all the kindly reminders, not only blasted me, but had the temerity to suggest to Dear Editor that I write and spell in the Queen's English, writing colour instead of color, etc. As we undereducated Americans like to say "Hey sport, it ain't gonna happen." When I type colour, I get one of those red squiggly lines beneath it, and they tend to annoy me. Perhaps the one or two readers who were very upset over my mistake would prefer that I pretend to be English? I'm an American, I write in American English, and will continue to do so. While I don't have a pickup truck with a gun rack, don't chew tobacco, and can't eat a 24 ounce steak (at least in one sitting) I am proud to be American, even though I don't like country music either.

In addition to my error in grammar, several took issue with my branding of Lotus Renault as "Flavio's Lotus." Yes, I am well aware that Flavio Briatore has as much to do with Renault now as he did with Lotus previously. Should I have said Boullier's Lotus? Kubica's Lotus? Lotus Genii? None of those have the ring of Flavio's Lotus or immediately identify without question what is referenced. It was a campy, tongue in cheek reference. If you want serious, dour, no nonsense writing there are plenty of places around the web that serve up that fare. While I would never consider Pitpass a joke, or farcical, it certainly doesn't pontificate on how important it is. That's probably the reason the site is regarded the way it is.

However, none of you disputed the abject stupidity of 2 teams named Lotus. Here are snippets from some of the emails I received (grammatical and spelling errors included!);

"What a bunch of dickheads - the whole ffffffoolish lot!"

"….Gascoyne and Fernandes should be recognised as true sportsmen,…honestly they should just pick their own name, instead of pretending to be who they're not. Only because they bought whatever name, that doesn't give them an identity, a history or a heritage"

"I read your article on Pirtpass and can't agree more, Group Lotus and Renault have no rights to be using the Lotus name in racing, they will just bastardise the brand to make money for their investors."

"….you have clearly stated the case for present spectators of F1. In addition to the Lotus fiasco, the whole F1 scene has become an embarrassment."

One reader had a solution "…perhaps all of the British media (for starters) can start to call it Renault, and only Renault!"

Maybe the next "fan survey" that FOM or FOTA commissions can attempt to seek out more than just casual fans and can survey some of us 'old farts' or long time fans from around the World and see what our feelings are on the state of Formula 1. I'm feeling an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the way things are 'trending.' Look at the comments by Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso. Both were quietly critical of the way things are headed.

Bernie may be patting himself on the back about finally granting the masses something they should have had 3 years ago (High Definition broadcasts), but he was probably pushed by FOTA and others. That we didn't have HD coverage of the last 3 title races is shameful, but if for some unforeseen reason this season is a bust, sharper pictures of boring races will be like putting lipstick on a pig.

I thank all of you for your comments, and I do apologize, even those of you who are self absorbed, pedantic old farts, or more concerned with proper grammar than Formula 1. Keep the comments and hate mail coming.