THE ARGOT OF THE AIR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3199, 25 September 1917, Page 5

THE ARGOT OF THE AIR

A NEW VOCABULARY. '

First "Hun": "Did you 6ee old Cole's zoom on a quirk this morning?" . Second "Run": "No; what nappened.' , l'irat "Hun": "yh, nothing to write home about . . . stalled his 'bus and pancaked thirty feet . . . crashed completely . . .-put a vertical gust up me ... ..just, as ,1 was starting my solo flip in a runipty 1" ■' l ' ,'. This is typical of the conversation to be heard on any aerodrome where two or more flying pupils may be gathered tuBe To er .the outsider it must be. entirely meaningless. To the inibated it is lull of expressiveness and beauty. While all branches of the Army since tho commencement of the war have contributed their ehare of new words to our language, no one can claim the invention of so many strikingly original terms as The explanation lies in the. fact that it is a new game, played for the most part bv youngsters. JFor, quaintly enough, it is Hie "Hun"-in other words the novice —tfffd is moat prodigal in the uee an<l invention of these synonyms. "Zoom'Va soul-satisiying. word-dc-sci-ibes the action of aa-aeroplane vrhich, while flying level, is hauled up abruptly and made to climb for a few moments at a, dangerously sharp angle. Zooming" is a quito useful accomplishment, frequently the only, means ot "avoiding an .obstacle when flying low. "Qilirk" is disrespecttul slang, for a certain typo of machine muck m use over-seas. Its origin is not (l°a£ but 4t mav havo reference to the peculiar cough of thl engine when first started up °Vhon g in OU t n he above graphic narrative £ffv%%AgS a s S^i«ti»c^ cident does not have -a eoothmg effect on the nerves of another begmnei-, especially if as in this case, he is about to undertn'ko Ms first flight alone-otherwise, "sob I Sp." In his own breezy way ho confesses it by the remark about a vei- , »« Particular machine in "stive of the nightmare evolutions of alre, lf quoted are more'or less of iislangy nature, theieare others which have come to have technical 'value. For instance, "joystick is the name sow to the central lever by which, the pilot works the wing and tail 'plane controls. "Streamline," in aerodynamics, means briefly the direction taken by particles ot ail- on striking a moving body, but tho phrase also refers to the peculiar shape of many component parts 01a n aeroplaae, designed expressly to give tho minimum of uir resistance.' In this connection the jaunty headgear of the Iloyal Hying Corps is known lisa "streamline cap. . A "tractor" neroplu.no is one in vhich tho propeller is in front of .the pianos and tb© pilot; in a "pusher" the rropellor is behind the pilot and between tho nlaues. "Fuselaga" refers to the fully enclosed body of a "tractor, and "nacelle" describes tho canoe-hko blvubturo in which sits the pilot of a "pusnAnother excellent word is "aerobatics." "\erobatics" are "stuuts," and "stunts are—well, just aerobatics ,, ! But the most priceless word of all is "gadget." If the .name of anything escapes you call it a "gadijqt" and you will be understood S-W.A.B. in the , "Daily Mail." .