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The Rise of Naff Mil Phraseology

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The Rise of Naff Mil Phraseology

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Old 14th Jul 2013, 13:30
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Other American expressions that have crept in in recent years:

'With the flash' rather than 'ident'
[squawk code] 'coming down'
And the pronounciation of the altitude indicating instrument as Al-tim-eter rather than the correct English Alti-meter
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 14:26
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Whatho! Ken.....

.......can I safely assume then that the thing that tells me the milage I've travelled in my car is an "odo-meter?

Says he who has always said "al-tim-eter" since I first got into an RAF aircraft in 1963.

The Ancient Mariner
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 16:01
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Ancient Mariner,

That's the thing with the English language, it's full of inconsistencies.

Hence the Volt-meter, thermom-eter etc each with their own specific pronounciation!

But I'm sorry to say that you've obviously being pronouncing it incorrectly since 1963! Clearly a hangover from the USAAF in WW2.
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 16:46
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When did the naff term "Staish" begin to be used to describe the CO?

I left in '79 and had never heard it.

Mumble, mumble, bah!
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 17:20
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Siti,

About 1979...
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 17:21
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'Staish' was his surname, in my service all Stn Cdrs were christened 'Harold'.
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 18:34
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I keep on hearing about I guy called Harry Staish, but I've never met the namesake. :-) I wonder if theres a real Harry Staish in the BT phonebook or census records?
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 18:37
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every station I was at the Stn Cdr was always 'Harry the Staish" - end of.

Ivor

p.s. - except for one scottish fighter base where the Stn Cdr was affectionately known by all as 'Harry the Ba$tard'

Last edited by Ivor Fynn; 14th Jul 2013 at 18:39.
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 21:07
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Not strictly military but LinkedIn provides a rich supply of bolockspeak if anyone is ever short of inspiration.
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 21:17
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The following book will explain all - available in all good bookshops (and a few rubbish ones as well). I bought one for our project office staff when I worked for a PT.



Amazon Amazon

Last edited by Wensleydale; 14th Jul 2013 at 21:19.
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 21:29
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From another thread close by talking about procurement:

"Seedcorn"

I hate that.
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 21:38
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Good point, Cheesy.

Real military phraseology tends to be succinct and meaningful, even if it is totally incomprehensible to outsiders.

For good reasons: less airtime and not too obvious.

Most Naff Mil Phraseology comes directly from the mouths of highly paid consultants who may recently have been trained in something that looks like "Management by Objectives" as we used to call it 40 years ago. Which was later hi-jacked and "morphed" into whatever they call it now.

In most cases, the only reason that middle ranking military officers think the consultants are so clever and adopt their phraseology is because the consultants are usually paid a lot more than them.

Rgds SOS

Last edited by SOSL; 14th Jul 2013 at 21:51.
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 22:29
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From the USAF. Planes don't break anymore, they have unskeduled unservicabilities.....
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Old 14th Jul 2013, 22:35
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After sitting through a meeting which was addressed for about an hour by a seagull manager (flies in, makes a lot of noise, puts sh!t everywhere, takes what he can and flies out), we were all brought to tears of laughter by one very clever lady who asked "Sir, could you please tell us what you've just said?"
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Old 15th Jul 2013, 09:08
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MOD lost its "Investors in People" thing about five years ago
I thought we ditched IiP on purpose, when the ministers finally realised that we were wasting an awful lot of time and money trying to get an accreditation that was utterly meaningless to most people wanting to join the military. As I said to the IiP assessor "I wanted to fly fast-jets; the air force was the only place I could do that. Why on earth would I be worried about whether the organization was IiP accredited?" Answer: "Fair point."

Another one for the buzzword-bingo: "operationalize".
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Old 15th Jul 2013, 10:00
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From the USAF. Planes don't break anymore, they have unskeduled unservicabilities.....
Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of a visit that I had as a car mad teenager to a Rolls Royce garage. A inqusitive young Bear asked the mechanic in his pristine overalls 'is this where you bring them when they break down?' To which the mechanic replied 'Oh no young man, Rolls Royces never break down, but they may fail to proceed'

I'm surprised that 'over-arching' and 'under-pinning' haven't made an appearance yet.

Bear
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Old 15th Jul 2013, 10:05
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After sitting through a meeting which was addressed for about an hour by a seagull manager (flies in, makes a lot of noise, puts sh!t everywhere, takes what he can and flies out)
Oh I do love that Hydromet, Bravo!

Yes, far too many Seagull Managers about from what I've heard.
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Old 15th Jul 2013, 12:07
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I'm surprised that 'over-arching' and 'under-pinning' haven't made an appearance yet.
I'm surprised that you didn't bother reading the start of this thread. Keep up, Yogi
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Old 15th Jul 2013, 12:16
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Yes, far too many Seagull Managers about from what I've heard.
We had someone from the fighter control branch on the AWACS who was known as "Seagull". You had to throw a brick at them before you could get them to fly!
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Old 15th Jul 2013, 16:40
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The word 'ask'.

As in: 'That's a big ask'.

No it f*****g isn't, it's a big thing to ask!

Ask is a verb not a bloody noun!
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