Aaahh, so I was being over-sensitive and followed it up by being un-officerlike. My mistake!
Do you really think that the term isn't derisory?
Perhaps I should have mentioned the lengthy discussions I had with the individual referred to above where he refused to accept any point of view bar his own. According to his experience of, oh, two months, the term was used across the RAF for anyone commissioned from the ranks. In a bygone age, perhaps, but where did he get the idea? From a system which breeds an arrogant and outdated attitude to those who do not wear a brevet or flying badge....
I was surprised to see the term used on this thread - I had only previously encountered its use at Cranwell, and then only from the mouths of those students from the UAS system. It was nice to see that their instructors had prepared them fully for life in the RAF beyond their weekend flying club!
I accept that the final offer to the young chap was not a particularly mature thing to do, but it took the possibility of such a step to penetrate the chap's blinkered and arrogant perception of life in the RAF. I'm not one of the PC brigade, but if someone refers to me in a way I find offensive, I reserve my right to stand up for myself. Unofficer-like? I don't think so.
Perhaps in the earlier years of your service, BEagle, it was banter, but I would suggest those days are now gone - and I always thought banter was supposed to be witty...
CV