Trash the Donkeys????
 

Hello,
about one month ago we were flying back from Africa, when the ATC asked a BA 744 about his speed.
"M.87"
A bit surprised ATC wanted to confirm, then BA said, "yes, we are trashing (crashing?) the Donkeys today".

Obviously, according to the discussion that followed, nobody (on freq, BA was the only one whith english as mother tongue) had never heard that before.
I understood the meaning, but could you give me more informations about that?
many tks.

Just a joke... british humour...

A "donk" or a donkey is a slang term for an engine, so thrashing the donkey would mean that they were running at high power to get the extra speed.

See also:

"Pouring on the coals"
"Opening the taps"
"Givin' it some stick"
"Givin' it some beans." etc.etc...

That's what I understood, but didn't know the engine's nickname...:ok:
And why do we "trash" it ??

...or releasing the hounds, or turning up the smog machines, or hammering it.......:hmm:


Very appropriate in african airspace for 2 reasons, firstly you get out of there faster!, secondly you end up having to do less 'own co-ordination' on 126.9:ok:

From Dictionary.com:
tr.v. trashed, trash·ing, trash·es
Slang.
To throw away; discard: trashed the broken toaster.
To wreck or destroy by or as if by vandalism; reduce to trash or ruins.
To beat up; assault.
To subject to scathing criticism or abuse; attack verbally: “The... professor trashes conservative... proposals as well as liberal nostrums” (Michael Marien).
To remove twigs or branches from.
To cut off the outer leaves of (growing sugar cane).
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[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialectal trask.]
and
n. pl. don·keys
The domesticated ass (Equus asinus).
Slang. An obstinate person.
Slang. A stupid person.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Perhaps from the name Duncan, or of imitative origin.]


......so possibly the crew wished to discard a domesticated ass in african airspace?:confused:
Somehow I don't think it would have survived long in the desert:E :E

Or thrashing, perhaps ?

"Thrash" = to beat mercilessly, to flog.
In NZ one of the phrases is "give it the jandal"
And if it stops, it's "sucked a kumera"

I like "feed her the jandle"
Max-chat is another

Also
Give it some welly
Try explaining that one

Ahhh...welly, Billy Connelly fan here!