As a former RAF Officer, I was intrigued to read that because the Air Force now has a considerable number of women in its ranks (it always did, they were known as WRAFS, pronounced WAAFS) the appellation ‘airmen’ is considered inappropriate. The argument goes that the Army has soldiers and the Navy has sailors, both of which terms can apply equally to either sex, so the RAF should have a similarly gender neutral rank. I understand that, but unfortunately they have come up with the term ‘aviators’. An aviator, very specifically, is somebody who takes to the air in a flying machine. Almost all soldiers are likely to be called upon to fight at some point, even if its only in self-defence. The majority of sailors go to sea at some point, albeit most of the Royal Navy’s ships seem to spend more time in dry dock than at sea these days. But the vast majority of personnel in the Royal Air Force simply don’t fly. It is only a very small percentage of the total who are lucky enough to ‘pull max welly and punch up into the puffies’ as my fighter pilot friends used to say. So to call all those engineers, technicians, mechanics, administrators, cooks, bottle washers and blanket stackers, ‘aviators’ is a criminal abuse of the English language. It ill becomes the critic not to offer an alternative so…… …… ….. I’ve just sat here for thirty minutes staring at a blank screen, devoid of inspiration. The best I could do was airsoul but that’s somewhat open to abuse! If you can put ‘or’ on the end of sail how about airer or airor. Air Trooper maybe, after all we were the Cavalry of the Air? (But the Army Air Corps already has those).The sad fact is that they’ve been airmen and women since the whole shooting match took to the skies and there really isn’t anything better. I’ll bet ‘aviator’ has gone down like a lead balloon with most of the boys in blue. (and girls of course)
How many things in daily life annoy you? I confess that I get mildly irritated by the superfluous use of words; the shop assistant who adds ‘at all’ to the end of every sentence. I’m always tempted to say “nothing thank you, at all” but my genteel upbringing prevents such rudeness. Or the commentator who says “he’s got a great future ahead of him”. Where else is his future going to be? I also get unreasonably cross at drivers who are too polite and bring traffic to a grinding halt by being nice in letting you go, but against the rules of the road. Then there’s the person who takes FOREVER to pack their shopping at the checkout and then stops to natter about inconsequentialities when there’s a fast-growing queue behind them. The road hog who sits in the outside lane of a three lane motorway at 65 mph when the two inside lanes are clear…..or the “really interesting” person who’s got so much to say that you can never get a word in edgeways……or the golf bore who insists on replaying his “brilliant” round, shot by shot, or telling you in minute detail about his brand new Gary Player 58 degree sand wedge, with square grooves, ten degrees of bounce, slightly offset and with an extra stiff shaft. Yawn.
I wonder how many really irritating things I am guilty of? Plenty I have no doubt. Jealousy is definitely one of them. A friend (I nearly wrote “of mine” until I realised it is superfluous!) has just gone skiing to Les Trois Vallees, one of my favourite haunts in the good old days. To rub salt in the wound she sent me a fabulous photo of a glorious snow-soaked alpine panorama, glistening in the bright sunshine without another body in sight. Grrrr! I wanted to say “break a leg” but that would’ve been too unkind. I made do with “enjoy”….through gritted teeth.
ADayInTheStrifeOf 