The use of modern global meteorological data in the investigation of the extent to which atmospheric processes contribute to the observed short-term and other changes in polar motion (and length of the day) and the determination, by subtraction, of changes in the Earth's rotation of non-meteorological origin was initiated several years ago. It is unfortunate that Chao (1985), in a confused article reviewing some of that work, has succeeded in misrepresenting not only its scope and objectives but also the methods used, principal findings and other aspects, thereby confusing the recent literature on fluctuations of the Earth's rotation. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1987