Seems weird to me to grumble about the use of 'the' when on all fronts we are assaulted by bad English:
Apple's, Pear's, Orange's
Brought/bought
Their, they're, there
don't do'nt
spelling beyond comprehension
total lack of capitalisation
non existent punctuation
The thread started off with this example:
right,has anybody noticed the use of "the" in callsigns lately? Like "HEATHROW DIRECTOR THIS IS THE KLM XXXX"etc. or "ZURICH GOOD DAY,THIS IS THE EMIRATES 003". it seems to be becoming more and more prevalent,not that i have a problem with it,but would just like to where the practise originated.
Now how many errors there? Shall we sort them out before criticising verbal use of 'the'?
Also:
jayteeto - believe me, i've heard ATC in both THE UK and THE UAE use the word THE when they talk to THE Emirates
........more comprehensible when you add punctuation mentally.
The best example used was from this little individual:
chemistry chemistry i`m getting it now some sly type women only go for money ect you can tell them a mile away .
Hallelujah! At least we got a full stop, but we seem to have picked up another elevated full stop in 'i'm'! But then this was from the same individual who subsequently emailed me:
oi i hope you get cancer and never see your kids
....so we mustn't expect too much from him! I tried, Lord knows I tried to point out to the nasty creep you always start sentences with capital letters, and not to forget punctuation, but I think I was wasting my time!
Let's not worry about a minor infringement of RT etiquette by using 'the' when not needed- there are BIG problems afoot!