View Full Version : Naff sayings
Fuji Abound
14th Sep 2007, 15:48
Better wishing you were up there than .. .. ..
Eight hours from throttle .. .. ..
.. .. .. and quite a few tohers come to mind.
Why is it avaition is so full of so many naff sayings (as meritorious as they might well be)?
.. .. .. and can you add to list while you are at it?
maxdrypower
14th Sep 2007, 16:28
Its tits on sticks in the shed with a double donk drop
foxmoth
14th Sep 2007, 16:50
Loads of "most useless things in aviation" :-
Fuel in the bowser
Runway behind you
Sky above you
etc.:8
easy307
14th Sep 2007, 22:03
Aviation loves it's TLA's (three letter acronyms).
Naff is a gay polari acronym for "not available for f***ing".
I'm sure it wasn't your intended meaning, but it is amusing to see how words evolve.
I like posh (port out, starboard home).
digital.poet
14th Sep 2007, 22:45
As a relative newbie to the scene I have noticed that there are a lot of TLAs in aviation too, especially confusing as I work in IT which, I am sure, is the all-time champion industry when it comes to TLAs, the problem is that some have now started to overlap. I have to switch brain modes from IT to aviation and back several times a day.
Knowing too many TLAs becomes a real distraction when you are driving as every third car numberplate is meaningful in some way :}
strake
14th Sep 2007, 22:59
Well, it's not a saying as such but is very similar to the Army's " Pull up a sandbag...".
Scene...fade in:
Old timer in the flying club bar thanks young PPl student as he lifts a freshly poured pint of "Johnsons Old Scrote"
"Thanks son. Well there I was, upside down and nothing on the clock but the makers name......and that was in Japanese...."
gcolyer
15th Sep 2007, 08:40
Here is a saying about 172's from another post.
I hate them! they are pieces of crap. Im too short for them, the damn armrests make it hard to flare because I have to move the seat so far forward.........PIECE OF CRAP!!!
Footless Halls
15th Sep 2007, 08:44
Well I'm afraid on more occasions than I should I resort to: "if God intended man to fly, He would have given him wings" and, even worse...
"Do you REALLY know what makes an aeroplane fly?"
Whatever the reply I shake my head and silently produce a credit card.
Blues&twos
15th Sep 2007, 11:44
easy307, TLA is an abbreviation, not an acronym.
Acronyms are abbreviations made into words, so rather than saying the letter names individually you say the letters as if they were a word......
S.O.P. - abbreviation
RAM - acronym
I think...
I don't get out much.
smith
15th Sep 2007, 12:22
Night flying is for bats and tw@ts
tmmorris
15th Sep 2007, 15:29
Not quite that simple, easy307 - see
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/naff
and you might change your mind...
Tim
CANOPUS
4th Oct 2007, 09:39
S.N.A.F.U.................................:cool:
'Chuffer' Dandridge
4th Oct 2007, 09:46
"Dangle the Dunlops"
K.Whyjelly
4th Oct 2007, 19:27
If it flies,floats or f*cks..............rent it!! :hmm:
FREDAcheck
4th Oct 2007, 20:09
Helicopters don't generate lift. They are so ugly the ground repels them.
stickandrudderman
4th Oct 2007, 20:31
"That'll be £1.50 a litre please"
OpenCirrus619
4th Oct 2007, 20:46
You may consider it "NAFF" but:
Speed is Life
Height is Life Insurance
Sorted out my problems with "mid level" cable breaks when winch launching gliders.
Possibly saved my life when I experienced a marginal performance take off (much closer look at some trees than I ever want again).
Would, like as not, have saved the majority of flyers who have not survived "stall / spin" events in the circuit.
One thing I have learnt is: Don't dismiss the "old guy" greeted by jeers of "WIWOL" as he approaches the bar and seems a little "past it" - he can likely handle a flame out / relight in a vertical climb while noting tactical updates and manging fuel and weapon systems at the same time.
OC619
P.S. Respect your elders
P.P.S. If you don't know what WIWOL means ask nicely and I'll let on.
P.P.P.S. TLAs are not the business - WIWOL is an FLA!!!
P.P.P.P.S. I may, possibly, talk b******s when I've had more than a botle of wine :)
Bravo73
4th Oct 2007, 21:46
P.P.S. If you don't know what WIWOL means ask nicely and I'll let on.
Google knows everything. :E
Pitts2112
4th Oct 2007, 23:03
pardon the hi-jack but an old engineer was telling me the other day about his WIWOH days.
He said, "no matter what part you wanted to change on the damn thing, you could see it or you could touch it, but you could never do both!"
Pretty much describes my current days of WIWOP!
Pitts2112
Dark Helmet
5th Oct 2007, 07:52
Maxdrypower,
Its tits on sticks in the shed with a double donk drop
I haven't heard that style for a few years! Thanks for bringing back some excellent memories!
effortless
5th Oct 2007, 08:32
"Twos up in a Tonka with the toasters lit!"
Saab Dastard
5th Oct 2007, 13:58
"To make a small fortune in aviation, start with a large fortune..."
SD
"To make a small fortune in aviation, start with a large fortune..."
I don't believe that one. I think it is propagated by people who do make money out of some aviation activity.
Anyway...
How may pilots does it take to screw in a light bulb? ONE - he holds the bulb and the world revolves around him.
How can you tell a pilot is on a date? Halfway through, he says "OK, that's enough talk about aeroplanes, now let's talk about me"
Our club treasurer says when the talk would come round to emergency procedures in the air
"Just remember the insurance company owns the plane"
J.A.F.O.
6th Oct 2007, 20:41
I like posh (port out, starboard home)
Sorry, easy307 but that never happened, P&O have no record of port out, starboard home ever being used.
Well I'm afraid on more occasions than I should I resort to: "if God intended man to fly, He would have given him wings"
If God had intended man to fly he would have given him more money.
The reason that we have so many aphorisms in aviation is, as OC619 says, because it saves lives. If hard won experience can be passed on in an easily remembered phrase then someone might just recall it at the time they need it most.
high-hopes
6th Oct 2007, 22:11
not strictly a flying one, heard it in the Army.
"better an ugly trial than a nice funeral"
FantomZorbin
7th Oct 2007, 08:57
ASSUME ...
makes an Ass of U & Me
(seen on a flight safety poster ... many many many years ago!)
I find 'forum slang' pretty naff: "I wobbled the prop on the donk and dangled the dunlops with a bootful of rudder down Mig Alley to L2k...etc etc...."
but the worst are the sayings that perpetuate not life-saving advice but incorrect rubbish
"never run the engine over-square"
"LOP will cause detonation"
"the second engine only takes you to the scene of the crash" (it's obligatory in any twin-engine discussion for a non-twin pilot to post this at some point!)