Long service in the Armed Forces tends to inculcate a 'language' of its own with phrases and sayings 'in house' which are less common elsewhere.
I make the point only because a question was posed to me, which I am unable to answer directly, having been 'banned' from the JB forum where it originated.
'Banning', unfortunately, isn't accompanied by a 'charge sheet', so one has to guess at which particular sin was the culprit ( From numerous reponses, there are many candidates among my posts
) My best guess , at the moment, is my quoting a definition of 'sympathy' which I was first introduced to as a raw 18 year old aircrew cadet, and which would have been repeated ad infinitum in any and every crewroom/coffee bar I inhabited for the next 35+ years. I suspect that it stemmed from an era of aviation losses (particularly personnel) at a level which didn't allow for sustained grief and limitations in machine performance guaranteed repetition. The phrase/definition was almost Pavlovian in its regularity of use. Should Keith Williams happen to see this post, there is his answer.
The above leads me to wonder just how many such 'in sayings' remain in vogue and has the new century outgrown their acceptance?
I hasten to add that I have no quibbles with the 'banning' ... train set ownership etc.