Originally Posted by
BEagle
Back in the days of 1369s, they always wanted you to state your linguistic qualifications. So every year I used to write 'French / German / Latin 'O' levels 1965, current standard - lapsed'.
Until one year some oikish flight commander said that 'O' level Latin was taking the pi$$ and demanded that I delete it from the draft....
B****y lower order peasant probably did metalwork at some grim Secondary Modern.....
One of my flight commanders (a gentleman with an IQ which might just - on a good day - have challenged Dubya) wrote on my 1369: "He is reasonably intelligent."
Pissed me off no end ... I'd spent many years persuading everybody that I was as thick as a brick (I was after promotion) and he queered my chances.
I spoke pretty good English when I was in the Air Force (not my mother tongue.) I didn't get a penny extra for it.
I also spoke a couple of other languages and although the Air Force didn't pay me for my linguistic ability, I got better tables in restaurants and paid smaller bills.
Swings and roundabouts.
With the contraction in UKAF, would 'Geordie' be a good option for somebody wishing to learn a foreign language?