It would be appear to be acceptable to be pompous about:
- the location of cutlery,
- the method of wielding them
- his perception of sandwiches being inappropriate
...yet using military abbreviations and avoiding overly simplistic English is pompous and therefore to be avoided? What does he prefer - "big" or "large". Would he rather see "bullets" or "ammunition"?
Manners are important, but that's where it ends.
The General needs a word with himself. GOC 3 Div may be stuck in the 1930s, but the rest of the world isn't.
Sorry, I used a couple of abbreviations!