Why do South Africans say "Foot"?
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Why do South Africans say "Foot"?
I have noticed that most South African pilots i share the skies with say "foot" instead of "feet" with reference to altitude. Is this a standard procrdure in South Africa?
Capt Manuvar
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It's the Boere
Maybe it has something to do with the Afrikaans-speaking pilots' influence. The Afrikaans for, say, 10 000 feet is 10 000 "voet". This word is pronounced phonetically exactly like "foot". Hope it helps..
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Many South Africans are grammatically challenged in that they do not know the difference between singular and plural. You also should have noted that instead of reporting that they are on FINAL many South Africans advise that they are on FINALS, as if they are trying to land on more than one runway at once!
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The hyphen is silent!
I have an 8-inch ... No, never mind that one now, but we do that in the States too, in some of the regions where they still use English from 250 years ago. In standard speech you would have a 50-fathom anchor line, not a 50-fathoms one, for instance, and some people still use the singular instead of the plural for some things.
I think it comes from an old form of English that has been preserved in some regions. Country folk in the States still call "braces" (American:"suspenders") "galluses", a useage still found in Scotland, I believe.
I noticed that just this morning, when Zulu Sierra something or other called level at three thousand five hundred "foot."
How about the Brits saying "short finals" instead of "short final"? Where does that one come from, given that most people only do one approach at a time? I know they are confused, but that confused?
I think it comes from an old form of English that has been preserved in some regions. Country folk in the States still call "braces" (American:"suspenders") "galluses", a useage still found in Scotland, I believe.
I noticed that just this morning, when Zulu Sierra something or other called level at three thousand five hundred "foot."
How about the Brits saying "short finals" instead of "short final"? Where does that one come from, given that most people only do one approach at a time? I know they are confused, but that confused?
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But for me the more funny thing is the mixture of female and male grammatics in some african countries. "His" for a "she", "her" for a "he" and so on. Confused me lot of times until i've got used to it.
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Dear Boy....
The simple reason is that one only finds feet attached to the lower region of one's ankles. Height (or altitude) as measured by the terminally earthbound, such as air traffic controllers, may refer to one's height (or altitude) in feet, but one would never refer to a boat for instance as 45 feet long. Feet are exclusively attached to ankles, foot is a mearsurement of length (as in some appendages) or height, so in my humble "olde english" experience, feet in aviation terms should be incorrect.
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Some things are aesthetic though.
For example.
I say short final and I'm British. Never noticed that one but, now you come to mention it.
Many languages don't have plural nouns as it's obvious from the context. Native English speakers seem less intuitive and obviously need a different noun to tell them that 5 is greater than one
I'm driving at 120 miles an hour. It's 120 mile stretch of road.
I say short final and I'm British. Never noticed that one but, now you come to mention it.
Many languages don't have plural nouns as it's obvious from the context. Native English speakers seem less intuitive and obviously need a different noun to tell them that 5 is greater than one
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Interesting ...
We used to spend some time sharing the roads with the Appalachian rustics when we would shake our heads and say, "Drove inter town 20 mile an hour; Don't keer if Ah do get kilt!"
Well, you could come around a curve in your Volvo doing 60 on State Road 622, say, to find an ancient Chevy pickup with a load of chickens in the back doing a steady 20 down the middle of the road while making rough track corrections every now and then. As you squeezed past you caught a glimpse of Granpaw in there gripping the wheel with hands white with stress at this high-speed trip to town to rub elbows with strange folks who wore shoes even in summer.
With the hillbillies it was "mile" and "foot" and that must have been correct a long time ago.
Even today you might have a 20-foot trailer that is 20 feet long. That is standard English. Granpaw would say it is 20 foot long.
Well, you could come around a curve in your Volvo doing 60 on State Road 622, say, to find an ancient Chevy pickup with a load of chickens in the back doing a steady 20 down the middle of the road while making rough track corrections every now and then. As you squeezed past you caught a glimpse of Granpaw in there gripping the wheel with hands white with stress at this high-speed trip to town to rub elbows with strange folks who wore shoes even in summer.
With the hillbillies it was "mile" and "foot" and that must have been correct a long time ago.
Even today you might have a 20-foot trailer that is 20 feet long. That is standard English. Granpaw would say it is 20 foot long.
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As an ex Brit Mil Pilot (from many years ago) It was always:
"Finals -three greens".
(And yes , it was once after calling it ,that I realised that I was a couple of greens out)
"Finals -three greens".
(And yes , it was once after calling it ,that I realised that I was a couple of greens out)
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Overhead Virginia Durban I called 1500 foot and controller gave me big English leason saying, one foot 2 feet. You are at 1500 FEET !! So I replyed OK if you know why ask?
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Im with Jangys.....it because we can !!!!
it just the same as why do some people fly at FL 540 ????? because they can !!!
but at they end of the day if you don't like the way we South Africans do it.......... cry me a river !!!!
and i still say "short finals"
777
it just the same as why do some people fly at FL 540 ????? because they can !!!
but at they end of the day if you don't like the way we South Africans do it.......... cry me a river !!!!
and i still say "short finals"
777
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It's a mixing of the English language. Appendages at the end of legs, one is a foot two or more are feet. Measurements are different one foot, two foot, Three foot etc. So 6,ooo foot would be correct. People just mixed the two up. However like many things in the English language it has been accepted and now both are right.
Having said that, I have no idea why South African pilots say foot. Perhaps it is just because they can..
Having said that, I have no idea why South African pilots say foot. Perhaps it is just because they can..
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Decipher this and your blood is truly South African
Howzit bru,
What's vaaing ekse? This page makes me woes. You ous don't have a span of words from Durban! A connection at graft dialled me into your website yesterday, and it made me lag. I am an expat from Durban, with a porsie in Sydney, Oz. It was keef to read this but made me mal that I couldn't choon the ous at graft. Blind ekse.
So I chooned a connection from SA and we skeemed it would be cool to catch up and have a dop. Like all Durban ou's, we smaak to make a better, so I went for a trap and scored some kaartjies down the road. We hadn't checked each other since that time so we got fully dronk, made a few tings, and ended up way west. We trapped down the road fully goofed, scored some munchies and scooped a keef chow (no bunnies here, so we had a kebab). The ou serving us schemed he was way to do, so we vloeked him and ducked.
Just in case, we roasted one more phat one and I went back to my porsie. My stukkie was woes, and charfed me that I had pulled a blind action.
How's this bru, the surf's been doening it. It's been firing, off its pip. I know I'm chooning you what what, but we are going to klap a mission tomorrow. Pull in ekse. Let's go grind some barrels. If not, hope you okes get a couple. We might end up blasting a few dead bees as well. You check, it's the old story, you get numb and vaai surfing.
Shot, Neil
What's vaaing ekse? This page makes me woes. You ous don't have a span of words from Durban! A connection at graft dialled me into your website yesterday, and it made me lag. I am an expat from Durban, with a porsie in Sydney, Oz. It was keef to read this but made me mal that I couldn't choon the ous at graft. Blind ekse.
So I chooned a connection from SA and we skeemed it would be cool to catch up and have a dop. Like all Durban ou's, we smaak to make a better, so I went for a trap and scored some kaartjies down the road. We hadn't checked each other since that time so we got fully dronk, made a few tings, and ended up way west. We trapped down the road fully goofed, scored some munchies and scooped a keef chow (no bunnies here, so we had a kebab). The ou serving us schemed he was way to do, so we vloeked him and ducked.
Just in case, we roasted one more phat one and I went back to my porsie. My stukkie was woes, and charfed me that I had pulled a blind action.
How's this bru, the surf's been doening it. It's been firing, off its pip. I know I'm chooning you what what, but we are going to klap a mission tomorrow. Pull in ekse. Let's go grind some barrels. If not, hope you okes get a couple. We might end up blasting a few dead bees as well. You check, it's the old story, you get numb and vaai surfing.
Shot, Neil