Philip the chopper jock

[effortless]

I once saw Prince Phillip land a Whirlwind in Preston Park, Brighton. I wondered if anyone here was old enoulgh to remember him flying and if he was any good. Maybe a stupid question if so sorry.

[Farmer 1]

One word, six letters, two spelling mistakes. Could this be a record? More effort needed.

[BlenderPilot]

My english isn't that bad and I am Mexican!

[effortless]

Do you mean "enoulgh"? Sorry have enough then. If you mean "Pillip" then I am afraid that you may have missed the point.

[Arm out the window]

Welcome to the Professional Grammar and Spelling Checkers Forum!

[Hidden Agenda]

Surely the aim of the game is communication. Let us not put off potential contributors by pointing out errors in a post, spelling and grammatical, just for the hell of it! I think that is just mean.

To those of you whose 'mother tongue' is not English I am always impressed to read your contributions. There is absolutely no way I would write anything in a language other than English.

To the owners and moderators of the forum I ask if it is not desirable and affordable to include a spellchecker capability on the ‘post reply / new topic’ page?

[Heliport]

Why anyone can be bothered to point out one typo and one spelling mistake is beyond me. :rolleyes:

I saw the typo, and assumed the other error was in the name. I wasn't 100% sure how Phil the Greek spells his Christian name so looked it up; it's one 'l'.


HA -
I don't know, but assume not having a spell-checker keeps the cost down.
I totally agree with you about posts by contributors whose first language isn't English. They never cease to impress me.

[Heliport]

I'm not sure we're in as much agreement as you think. I meant minor spelling mistakes and obvious typos.

Back to the topic .......

[SilsoeSid]

Farmer 1 is so brilliant in the scrutiny of what was obviously a typo on the initial post, that he failed to spot that his opening gambit, One word, six letters, two spelling mistakes. is grammatically incorrect in itself.

Perhaps Farmer would lioke to take the advice from 'Word' and "consider revising"!

;)
SS

[Capn Notarious]

I would like to know the answer, to the first question.
Now thread back on course, forward cyclic and a bit more collective to counteract sink.

[effortless]

Hey ho, ok he spells his name "Philip" but those of us who are of certain age had heard him referred to as "Pilip". I was being arch. Silly me, however I would still like to know the answer to the original thread. http://www.security-forums.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif

[Farmer 1]

I tried to post this half an hour ago, but suffered a total internet failure. In the meantime, Effortless has sent in his post. However, I leave this unedited.


“Light blue touch-paper and retire immediately to a safe distance.”

...and leave a couple of days to see what results.

Not as much as I expected, I’m bound to say, and not even an answer to the original question. No answer to my question, either, but never mind, it was at least in part rhetorical.

I freely admit to having a thing about spelling. I notice spelling mistakes. It is a terrible affliction, believe me. No one ever appreciates my pointing out an error, no matter how politely I do so. I make no claims about being a champion speller myself. I seem to be for ever consulting dictionaries, and I think therein lies the difference; I take pride in doing a job to the best of my ability, be it flying, driving, writing to PPRuNe, or brushing my teeth. For me there is never a good excuse for doing a bad job. When it comes to writing, on this website for instance, what we write and how we write it is the only way hundreds of thousands of people have of judging us. When I see a whole paragraph devoid of punctuation and upper case letters I form the opinion that the writer is illiterate, and obviously wasted both his weeks at school. Furthermore, I feel he should be legally barred from airing his views in print. If that makes me elitist, or a snob, then sobeit. However, despite seeing so many such examples on the website, I think this is the first time I have posted a wholly negative reply.

To return to the original post, it was the name in the title, of course. Two errors, one of which was repeated in the next mention of it. I believe there is a difference between spelling errors and typos – these two I decided were the former, and “enoulgh” the latter. One mistake is one too many, but two mistakes in one word are definitely more than should be permitted. Furthermore, I believe that if you are going to write about a person, it is particularly insulting to misspell that person’s name. It is a common enough name, of a far from common man. Effortless has seen it in print thousands of times, and he still gets it wrong. Once again, no good excuse for doing a bad job.

However – quote: “If you mean "Pillip" then I am afraid that you may have missed the point.” Yes, Effortless, you’re dead right, I missed it. I missed it by such a distance I never even realised there was a point. Could this have been a joke? I ask myself. If it was, then I swallowed it hook, line and barrel. If that is the case, then I apologise most humbly, but please explain it to me, and I’m sure to many more of us who don’t understand it. Hidden Agenda praised those contributors whose mother tongue is not English, and I could not disagree with him less. I thought about it, and concluded Effortless is British, otherwise I would not have posted a reply. If I am wrong, Effortless, then I apologise even more humbly than most humbly, and I hope you can take comfort from the fact that you had me fooled – twice. Even so, I would still feel deeply ashamed.

SilsoeSid, I am aware that my post was not grammatically correct – lack of verb, subject etc. I could have made it so, but I think by so doing I would lose the point of the message I was trying to convey, and it would become more than most people up with which would put. If you want to engage in a grammatical duel, then I’m your man, but this is not the place. I would respectfully suggest that you take a lengthy course in the subject first, though, and your use of the term “Opening gambit” in a sentence about grammar marks you down as a non-starter, if you’ll pardon the pun.

The language of aviation is English, supposedly, which should put the Brits at a distinct advantage. I am embarrassed when I read the posts of so many of us who definitely are British, and I wonder what the rest of the world thinks of us. As BlenderPilot says, he’s Mexican, and he knows better - I salute you, Sir, and all the others out there who put me to shame.

Farmer.

[effortless]

I confess it freely; I am a native English speaker though I do speak other languages from time to time. I am also a silly pedant who gets upset, as you do, about the murder of the greatest language in the world. This said I do not feel that I have the right to give a hard time to less well educated chaps. Unless I have my tongue firmly emplanted in my cheek or perhaps after one or two glasses which will be thoroughly denatured before they see the light of day again.

I welcome criticism and I hope that it has given you as much pleasure to write it as it gives me to think of you fuming while you did so. http://jm.g.free.fr/smileys/langue.gif

[Farmer 1]

Effortless,

That’s all right, then, I think we agree, almost.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I was not fuming, I find it is better to do these things with a cool head. Sobbing, yes; fuming, no.

This is an anonymous website, so may I suggest we anonymously drink to each other’s health tonight?

Cheers.

Farmer.

P.S.

CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION?

[helicopter-redeye]

To paraphrase Marx "Bad spellers of the world, untie!"

h-r:)

[Farmer 1]

They were a great band of brothers, weren't they? Trouble is, I never could remember which one was which. Who was it said that about the spelling, now, was it Karl, or Lourenco?

[overpitched]

You guys should get out more !!!!

[Arm out the window]

So anyway, there was this helicopter...

[twinstar_ca]

i never actually heard anyone talk about what kind of driver he was... good or bad... but he is still around so he must have been reasonably safe or had good babysitters or a combination of both...

now his daughter-in-law (ex), she could have had me with her in a 206 anytime!!! :ok:

and upon re-thinking, was philip even rated fling wing like chuck and andy??

[John Eacott]

A good friend was on the Royal Flight, and spent many years as the DoE's pilot. Nothing bad to say about him, competent and professional.

Now, the stories about the late nights out with HRH and Dickie were something else ;)

[rotorcraig]

From http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page911.asp10. The Duke learned to fly and gained his RAF wings in 1953, his helicopter wings in 1956 and his private pilot's licence in 1959. Prince Philip achieved 5,986 hours in 59 types of aircraft. The Duke's final flight was on 11 August 1997 from Carlisle to Islay, following which His Royal Highness has stopped flying. He was the first member of the Royal Family to be flown out of Buckingham Palace garden by helicopter. He initiated, with the Tiger Club, the 'Dawn to Dusk' flying competition for light aircraft.RC

[effortless]

Prince Philip achieved 5,986 hours in 59 types of aircraft.

See it's like I have always said. If you want to get to fly loads of types you have to get a job with Her Maj!

Fifty nine types is pretty impressive. I'll bet that there aren't many RAF bods that get that kind of opportunity.