Scott
Thanks for bringing a bit of reasoning into this thread. It's getting a bit out of hand.
What it has done though is show that there are several ways to skin a cat (or any other domestic pet for that matter).
Hands up all those from LTCC or LACC that say 'expedite' is poor use of phraseology.......
There won't be many. The fact is, there is usually not the time to get into conversations like
"what is your climb rate"...
"ok can you make it xxxfpm til crossing FLAAA?"
"No, OK, how about yyyfpm till FLAAA?"
"That's great thanks"
Some other centres have the time to do this because they only work in, say, a high level environment with a lot less level changes.
Some centres even rely on a separation prediction device they affectionately call VERA to do the thinking for the controllers.
Some centres (south of the UK) sometimes don't seem to bother ensuring any sort of separation.
As we all plod our way through our careers, gaining more experience we acquire many different ATC tools for our ATCO toolbags. They all have their use at certain times and as professionals I'm sure we all do our best to apply the one we deem most fit at the time.
Thanks and good night
Vectorline