Originally Posted by
Jackonicko
The Royal Air Force does not own the word 'aviator', which has an accepted, long-standing and well-understood meaning.
Which is someone who flies.
Calling every member of the RAF an 'aviator' is as silly as calling every NHS worker a 'doctor', everyone in education a 'professor', and everyone in catering a 'chef'.
Anyone involved in any kind of writing, is of course a 'Poet Laureate'.
Language needs to be clear, and widely understood. This usage is neither.
Now if people are really too fragile/too intolerant/too good to accept the terms airman and airwoman, or aircraftman and aircraftwoman, then the RAF needs to invent a replacement that does not have an existing meaning.
Avior? Avion? Avionner? Aviane? Ardile? Brylcreamer?
I prefer aeronaut. A nod to the naval roots, genderless noun, ideal