"Out" is a perfectly good word for partner communication. This is the epitome of the complaint we hear about trying to control the minutiae of the sport. It's up to the players to *stay in the game* until the ball is dead. Play until the rally really ends -- don't support a team stopping play because one partner used a perfectly good and descriptive word to tell the other partner not to touch the ball.

Many players including myself are already used to using the word out. This is only confusing to players that don't know the rules. Rules shouldn't be changed to accommodate players that don't know the rules. Thank you.

Agree with Judy, Darla, Jared, James, Jim! Players need to learn to focus on the game and play the rally to the very end! If you tend to lose focus because you hear the word "out", that's on you. My MXD partner is Deaf and rarely verbalize but he can say the word "out", whereas "bounce it" or any other verbage is more difficult for me to understand. Also, I myself am hard of hearing and "OUT" is very easy to hear. When people make these sorts of rule changes, they need to keep in mind other players who might have hearing difficulties. USAPA, please make sure to keep in mind the Deaf community when changing or adding rules based on audible sounds and/or visual cues.

I concur that this rule ought to be modified to exclude the word OUT being used as player communication.
Aside from the aforementioned, another prime example of when this situation becomes an issue is when a player makes a premature "out" call and then the ball lands in. When a player is clearly making a line call and directs his/her call toward their opponents and not his/her teammate, that player ought not be rescued from that incorrect call simply because of a "player communication" rule when that was obviously not the player's intention. If a player calls the ball out after the bounce and the ball is IN, that player's team forfeits the point. Why should a player be off the hook simply because he or she mis-timed the call? Two mistakes in one play.

Bad idea. We've been saying "out" as communication BEFORE the bounce for many years and a wholesale change is both unnecessary and disruptive to many. It is the quickest, clearest way to say DONT HIT THAT BALL when time counts. Anything said before the bounce is communication. Simple.

So if a player yells, "Ouch," play is going to stop because someone thought he said "Out"?

It's perfect the way it is. Before the bounce it's communication; after the bounce it's a line call. The people who stop playing because they heard "out" from their opponents probably also stop playing when they hear "out" from the next court.

Calling the ball out is more of an issue to the team receiving the ball. It causes the receiving team to relax, and most likely not return the ball. On the other hand, the team that hit the ball to the receiving team should already to be on the defense for a return ball, therefore no harm, no foul.

This is an unnecessary rule change. Under the proposed scenario, saying "mp" could be equally confusing. Players simply need to learn that the ball is always in play until it lands and is called out.