Christopher – I saw this and thought of you – interestingly I think you understand the British/Aussie humour rather well! It made me chuckle and thought the chariot would enjoy it too
Linky thing from the BBC today discussing the differences between the English and German use of language – Apparently the Germans don’t have a word for ‘small talk’! Crikey!
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Boadicea's Chariot 
Wouldn’t want to be German, especially if they don’t understand British understatement.
I don’t often use understatement myself, except in a crisis, when it’s essential – such as the British Airways passenger jumbo jet captain who, finding all four engines choked with volcanic ash over the Indian Ocean announced “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”
Now that’s the kind of cool captain you want in charge when your jet turns into a glider!
Point of order Jan, if all four engines fail, a modern airliner turns into a brick – or, at least, an object with the same aerodynamic qualities…
Oh, I kind of assumed that because it had wings it would at least glide for a bit longer than a brick.
I also read this “Even without its engines, a 747 can travel forward ten miles for every 1,000ft it falls in altitude. With no power, flight 009 had begun a long, excruciatingly slow fall. The crew realised they had less than half an hour before they hit the sea.”
It goes on…
“Moody took drastic action: to prevent his passengers dying of oxygen starvation, he went into a nosedive, dropping 6,000ft in one minute, to an altitude where there was enough oxygen in the outside atmosphere to fill the cabin once more.
And quite unexpectedly, this action almost certainly saved the lives of every person on board.
Suddenly, engine four roared back into life. As the plane fell past 13,000ft, another engine came back into action, followed by the other two. The crew were euphoric, though when one of the four engines failed again, their fears continued.
With three engines operational, the plane closed in on the airport. But its problems were far from over. Moody could see nothing outside – the windshield glass had been damaged. Automatic landing equipment on the ground which could help them was not working, and the crew had to land the plane manually. With consummate skill, the pilot guided the aircraft to a perfect landing. ‘The airplane seemed to kiss the earth,’ recalls Moody. ‘It was beautiful.’
Brilliant! š
Some Germans do understand British understatement, particularly if they have studied English to degree level.
When an aircraft stalls, it drops like a stone, whereas when it remains flying (ie. above stalling speed, with lift being produced by the aerofoil characteristics of the wing) it retains the ability to glide, albeit quite steeply for a 747.
This is the difference between French pilots – who stalled their aircraft and didn’t have the skill or training to recover from it, killing all on board, and the British Captain – who remained in control and didn’t allow the aircraft to stall after all engines stopped, thereby saving all passengers.
Good evening, everyone. I just returned this evening from a brief holiday in the American Heartland. To be more specific, the Tri-State area. (South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa)
It was far too short, though an unfinished class forced me to return early.
Germans are notoriously blunt. Trierers, such as myself, are known in Germany for being notoriously blunt. Germans do have a sense of humour, though it tends to lack subtlety and is of the more slap-stick variety. That is simply, for better or worse, how it is.