IOT Familiarization Visit

[bladze]

In september, i will be attending RAF Cranwell for my IOT Familiarization Visit. On the letter ive been sent, there is a section that referes to a "short piece of written work" which will be undertaken during the visit.

Does any one know what this work is? and what the impications of it are?

[airborne_artist]

It's probably designed to test your spelling, punctuation and grammar.

By the looks of things you'll be in the remedial group for a while yet :E

[cornish-stormrider]

Now now, just because the grammar and writing of one's primary language is not up to the standard does not preclude one from joining Aunty Betty's Flying Circus. I blame the txtspk generation and their inability to read or write correctly.

kthxsbye or whatever random combination of letters they "sign " anything with.

hey, there's an IDEA. Bladze, you could pen a short essay on the fall in standards of education and the corresponding rise of chav text.

Beags, chav refers to a group (or sub group) of the modern youth who have a penchant for "modified" vehicles, a poor choice in clothing, dismal communication skills and a supreme arrogance towards the rest of society. They tend to drink to excess, break laws and rules and regard themselves as the cream of the crop.

[foldingwings]

Along with you A-A!

By the looks of things you'll be in the remedial group for a while yet

Normal convention is to punctuate a sentence with a full stop.:=

bladze,

If I remember correctly, it is a short essay about your life so far that will:

a. Allow your flight commander to get to know you better more quickly and before you arrive.

b. Prove your ability to write coherent English that is grammatically correct and includes accurate spelling and punctuation.

Good luck and enjoy the course. It's hard work but rewarding.:ok:

Foldie

[airborne_artist]

FW:

You may not be aware of my green, hooligan phase - shape, shine, shadow, silhouette, sudden movement, surface, spacings :}

[stiknruda]

They tend to drink to excess, break laws and rules and regard themselves as the cream of the crop.


Wow - they sound like the two-winged master race:E:E

[Mr C Hinecap]

a penchant for "modified" vehicles, a poor choice in clothing, dismal communication skills and a supreme arrogance towards the rest of society.

I thought the rest of it applied just as well :E

[bladze]

Thanks everyone.

Well, i am dyslexic, but hopefully with a bit of concentration & using the dictionary provided i should be able to produce an coherent essay.

just got to get through the medical probing now. Any one know much about the RAF policy with regards to the medical check? im currently being investigated based on an old shoulder injury. if you know anything about this, please look at my other thread in the medical section.

Thanks

[brakedwell]

A coherent essay would be better. :E

[Pontius Navigator]

Oh dear :(

[BEagle]

When I was 14, the rubric on my O Level English Language 1 paper stated:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/Internet/zxzxz.jpg

Candidates will be penalized for bad spelling, bad punctuation, and poor handwriting.

Even when I was 13, the school's Entrance Scholarship Examination English paper included such questions as:

1. Read the following passage of poetry and answer the questions below.
( )
Comment on the effectiveness of the simile in line 2.
Illustrate and comment on the poet's use of alliteration.
What do you think is meant by 'nocent' (line 8) and 'act intelligential' (line 12)?
Would anything be lost if the passage were arranged as continuous prose, instead of in the particular verse form the poet has used?

Whereas nowadays, ignorant digi-yoof resorts to txtsspk and cannot even use the correct form of the indefinite article....:confused:

Innit.

And good-bye to the stupid cuckoo troll who keeps trying to infiltrate these threads by imitating bona fide members.....

[StopStart]

I take you got a D for poor effort.

One assumes you meant to say "I take it you got a D for poor effort"?

[charliegolf]

BEags,

Did the exam board spell penalised with a zee, or was it Mr Gates? Surely not you? Not then.

CG

[StopStart]

The OED...

penalize
(also penalise)

• verb 1 subject to a penalty or punishment. 2 Law make (an action) legally punishable. 3 put in an unfavourable position.

[Flap62]

I think the point is that it almost certainly wouldn't have been spelt with a z in 1953 when BEags sat his exam.

[BEagle]

The word was indeed spelt 'penalized'. With a 'zed', never a 'zee'! A 'zee' is something used by those loud people who wear turquoise crimplene trousers, or 'pants' as they would say, and jackets made from old hotel carpets. And who say "Have a nice day" to each other....:hmm:

The philology of the -ise or -ize form has exercised the brains of many scholars in recent times.

Apologies for the tardy response, I was waiting until PPRuNe's polymorphic prat had been starved of the oxygen of publicity. Again. Took less than an hour to get rid of him/her/it/don't know/don't care this time....:(

[charliegolf]

Really interesting- in my yoof (mid 60s) we never spelled the z/s words with a (and yes, I do say) zed. It was considered the Americanised (see what I did there?) way.

CG

(chastized)

[Spartacan]

>>When I was 14, the rubric on my O Level English Language 1 paper stated:
Candidates will be penalized for bad spelling, bad punctuation, and poor handwriting.<<

I recently purchased a study guide for the GCSE English examination. In one of the model answers it was shown that it is acceptable to provide an answer written in abbreviated text language.

I have shown this study guide to a few parents and the common reaction is one of horror and disgust at the decline in educational standards. The Conservative Party have indicated that they intend to restore the old 'O' level and 'A' level syllabus. I hope so because, quite frankly, children educated in the English system are disadvantaged under the present system.

[Pontius Navigator]

Actually we were using text speak, as it is now know, back in the early 80s and on telegrams decades b4.

In a telegram you were charged by the word and not its length - burma?

In ASMA "u wr ltd by lgth & usd as few chrs asposs"

In both cases you needed a high degree of intelligence to shorten without becoming unintelligible.

asap, eta, etd, ata, atd etc etc, what's new?

[Spartacan]

>>Actually we were using text speak, as it is now know, back in the early 80s and on telegrams decades b4.<<

Yes, but in those days you were properly educated in the first place. You would not, one assumes, have got away with using such abbreviated language in lieu of full prose.

[Pontius Navigator]

Spartacan, very true, what our young hopeful has not done is demonstrated proper prose.

referes

or

? and what the impications

are neither txt spk nor abbrv

I am sorry I could not make this message shorter as I do not have the time so to do. :)

[Wensleydale]

And how many of the youth today remember the proper phonetic alphabet before it became NATOised (if that is a word).

A for 'orses
B for Dinner
C for Miles
D for Kate
E for Brick
F for Vessence
G for B
H for It in the Morning
I for The Engine
J for Oranges
K for Teria
L for Leather
M for Caemia
N for Cer
O for The wings of a dove
P for Relief
Q for Hours
R for Askey (or Daley for the younger)
S for Ranzen
T for Two
U for Mism
V for Espania
W for Quits
X for Breakfast
Y for you call my dog to F*** O** when hees name is pedro?
(or Y for Biscuit)
Z for Zodiac (an American Zee I'm afraid).


It passes many boring hours on intercom: We are diverted to QRA; I spell Hours, Askey, 'orses.:ouch:

[BEagle]

Hmm - no traditions, it seems!

The original 'A for 'orses, B for mutton, C for miles, D fferential' stemmed from WW2 and had quite a few differences.

The students on the Jetstream course at Scargill International invented a 'Jamaican' phonetic alphabet whilst I was there doing my pre-VC10 MER. So an ADF was an 'Anger Dreadlock F**kyou', an NDB was a 'No$hit Dreadlock Babylon' and an ILS was an 'I-and-I Limbo Spliff'..... Probably an offence in these PC times, but most amusing back then.