A 2021 guide from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) resurfaced on Fox News and is now making its way around more conservative media. Is the admonition to stop using words like cockpit, manpower, or guys simply wokery run amok or a reasonable attempt at inclusion?
Cockpit And Other Terms Deemed Offensive By Major Union Representing Pilots At Alaska, Air Canada, United, JetBlue, Frontier, Spirit
The guide is not new: it was published by ALPA in 2021. But after Greg Gutfeld recently mocked it on his late-night Fox News program, many media outlets have run it as fresh news.
Here are the suggestions that irked some:
Admittedly, my first instinct was to roll my eyes as well. I mean, ALPA claims, “Many women have heard a variation of ‘It is called a cockpit for a reason,'” but Wall Street Journal columnist Ben Zimmer, a linguist, argues that it is not about that cock.
That history starts in 16th-century England, where “cockpit” first came to be used to describe an arena for the bloody sport of cockfighting. The circular pit was surrounded by a barrier to keep the gamecocks from escaping, with spectators in rows of seats beyond that…
By the early 18th century, “cockpit” had moved in another direction: to the sea. On British warships, the rear part of the lowest deck was often used in battle as the place where the wounded would be brought to be treated by the ship’s surgeon. The confined space, the noise, the blood and the fetid air evidently reminded people of the original cockpits…
When airplanes were first designed in the early 20th century, many nautical terms were adopted to name parts of the flying machines. The part of the fuselage where the plane’s pilot sat matched the “cockpit” on sailing ships.
But on the other hand, even if there is no conscious exclusionary intent, using terms like “guys” or “miss” seems like imprecise language that is not helpful in 2024. Our language should be precise. So while I would say “ladies and gentlemen” does not necessarily signify that ladies and gentlemen are traveling together nor do I find any offense directed at people who identify as non-binary, I’m just not going to fall victim to the “woke gone wild” outrage machine because it really doesn’t matter to me and clearly matters greatly to some people.
Bottom line: as Justice Amy Coney Barrett argued in a recent opinion, just because something is traditional does not make it right or best. I see no harm in any of the terms above, but the fact that ALPA saw fit to publish a whole guide on this suggests a parallel dimension in which this is a big deal. Rather than fight a culture war over this, I’ll just take the more “inclusive” approach and save my outrage for when it is really needed.
the problem is we already gave these libs an inch many years ago. They then started demanding a mile, then 100 miles, then 10000 miles, now the entire world
@Derek … +1 . Also , last time I checked , the Cockpit Hotel in Singapore continues to be a lot of fun , with a “special” history of pilots on layover . I’d rather refer to a cockpit with one male and one female pilot as “half a cockpit and half a litterbox” .
I don’t who is more terrified by America’s changing demographics more, you or Alert or Chi Hsuan or Brandon or Dave Edwards …
Terrified by changing demographics, what? You should really back away from the fentanyl. It’s hilarious, you are too stupid to realize that I don’t GAS about immigration. Because, drumrolllllll please, I’m not a republican. Which is all the more cute given you believe something that is binary can then be “non-binary”.
You keep saying you aren’t conservtive, but even a blind person can see that you are.
Conservative, not the misspelling I typed.
Because you are too stupid to understand that just because someone isn’t a nutball leftoid, that they aren’t then a “republican”/”conservtive” (your word, not mine. non-literate tool).
You are the same crazies that even Bill Mahr, Jon Stewart and Russell Brand are calling out. Not your typical “righties”. You people are nuts. Heck my grandparents were lifelong “FDR” democrats who grew up during the great depression. I mean good luck explaining to them how FDR exponentially lengthened the GD, but god rest their souls, were not the same as you. Normal people don’t act like you bubble people who have never left the “big NE chiiitty” in their life.
I agree with some parts that are made where using more precise language helps avoid confusion and trying to remove some negative connotations that could occur. However, a lot of these words are not being used in that sense or in the manner they’re claiming that it conveys. Rather, it tries to convey a lot of these words as offensive and tries to paint the picture that way when those words aren’t offensive when commonly used in a neutral or positive light. If a word is used in an flippant manner, then it obviously becomes flippant.
One egregious example is their “black guy” sentence that they use which perfectly proves my point. I’m black and it’s not offensive to use “black” to describe me as black as long as you’re not using that as the focal point of a negative reason about me and it’s the same for other people and their identity other than race which includes ethnicity, religion, and etc. Or, for example, my wife will refer to me as her “husband” because I am a man and because I’m married to her and husband not offensive to anyone because it’s describing me.
This whole thing here is not a political issue of “other side bad” and “my side good” for whatever reason. Instead the point is that we should be allowed to freely use words to precisely convey ideas/messages/thoughts while avoiding anything that directly offends other people.
@Malik … +1 . The current times lack humour . Nipsey Russell could make a joke in any situation ,
“I’m black and it’s not offensive to use “black” to describe me as black”
But there are other Black people who are offended by it. Just because you aren’t offended by it doesn’t mean you can and should speak for all Black people.
The “non-racist” white guy lecturing a black guy on what a “black guy” should be called is a wild bingo card.
Not lecturing, just pointing out something that is fact. A common tactic to discredit examples of racism (or other “isms”) online is by anonymous people saying “Well, I belong to that marginalized group, but it doesn’t offend me, so it’s not offensive!” Also, I’m not White.
Now a-a-ron is changing his race because he finally outed himself as the racist we all knew he was.
You’re white but you have the balls to lecture us black people here every time they say an opinion about ourselves. Then you say whoever disagrees with you “isn’t black” or of the like here on this blog. You are simply a racist hypocrite. educate yourself before you get caught being a racist tryna act all progressive and for us. You got trump voters on our side here for crying out loud.
You don’t speak on behalf of us and people of other races can’t and will not speak on behalf of other races.
Not a trump voter, FWIW. Non-voter, here.
You don’t and will never speak on behalf of my race. I can promise you that. Stop being a hater and a racist as you’ve been the past few years where you call black people who don’t agree with you names and other nasty stuff.
Old habits are hard to break. Encouraging change is a good thing.
Change is what the homeless ask for.
Dave Edwards, this is your 2nd or 3rd post recently about homeless. Maybe because you’re homeless yourself (living under a rock doesn’t count) you worthless POS waste of oxygen.
Here comes the “I know you are but what am I” brigade.
And odds are you were never a doctor and never served this country at a level above a slop cook. You are far too fragile to have put the effort in to be a doctor. You would have been too busy waving a Free Palestine flag and the like.
Just showing anyone can claim to have been anything on here and you are proof of it. Thinking stolen valor is your gimmick. True leftist garbage.
The sock puppet theater here is a bit on the asinine side, isn’t it?
Want to know why DEI gets mocked? Look no further than this claptrap. That’s all I have to say on this subject before I get myself in more trouble.
Signed,
A person of color (though one deemed to be less deserving than others by the white Democrats that wrote this guide)
Sorry Meosh, people like you have to deal with these jerks.
Sorry to Matthew and all other readers, we have to deal with jerks like Brandon.
Oh knowz, Wetired(arded) “ReR” D(i)ck called me a namez….. I need someone to ban this freakazoid now. For the sake of humanity.
And guys like Senator Blumenthal here claim to have served this country.
Wearing a naval uniform at a Cher concert doesn’t make you a vet buddy.
Just Brandon?
Bro, Brandon, the bonkers dithering idiot, for all of his opinionated trash posts, doesn’t even vote…not sure why so many fought and gave their lives for democracy and freedom when his juvenile and deranged concept off such is a barage of highly abusive posts on travel blog….shame on Matt the Twat for continuing to publish such…
Did you get lost on your way out, little buddy?
Inclusion and being nice to people different from you sucks!
“inclusion”. lulz. Clearly you don’t understand the term. 99.99% of people don’t GAS enough to “exclude” anyone. They just don’t want to be forced to pander to ignorant individuals like you who can’t hack it in the real world. That’s where *we* have an issue.
Your comments on the subject prove otherwise.
Not my fault you have the reading comprehension of a toddler.
Matt is paying the bills this week. lol. InB4 A-A-ron, Navy D(-)c, etc make their crying appearances clicking the bait.
Not to mention Brandon, a guy in the running with a couple others on here for the “Most Triggered Snowflake” award lol
Poor A-A-ron can’t handle not being the biggest reply-guy
Oh I am fine. You’re the one showing us how much of a racist (among other things) @sshole you are.
Oh, nice. Now you brought out the “wacist” dog whistle. Here boy, ER D(i)c
No whistling here, just calling it like it is.
And people scoff when we say DEI has invaded the airline industry.
Oh for fk’s sake. I’m with Derek. Not to mention I’m the white friend of a black guy.
On a recent flight, one of the girls in the back turned out to be a guy. This mexican tranny looked like a miss but had a penis like a dude. Although I’m not gay, I didn’t protest when he took me to the cockpit to suck the chrome off my tailpipe.
Even by your low standards, that is a rather deplorable post.
I know you love it when I talk dirty little Aaron.
If by love it you mean “Ew, that is gross and disgusting, get away from me”…
Oh come now little Aaron, I’m sure you enjoy the occasional dirty talk with your boyfriend or cousin (or boyfriend/cousin) or whoever the pathetic soul is that could stand your rotten odor and nasty personality for more than 5 minutes at a time.
Chi, I’m surprised you think such a person exists? Not even the boyfriend/cuz could put up with his nonsense.
Well Brandon, you never know. I am picturing a human blob of ambiguous gender, about 400 lbs, with rainbow-dyed hair, multiple piercings, possibly blind, and wearing a pronoun pin. That’s probably about as good as little Aaron is going to get.
I actually think Flight Deck sounds cooler than Cockpit. Channel 9 wasn’t called “From the Flight Deck” because United was woke, or whatever. It sounded better.
And what about the term cocktail waitress or waiter or server?
I’d argue that “Guys” these days can be used in a gender neutral way. It’s just another way or saying “People” or “Folks”.
Am I the only one that finds it ironic that the same group of people and/or experts lecturing the rest of us expect me to b “A OK” with having to see a strangers penis in a public bathroom or locker room or dressing room designated for my female gender so as not to offend or hurt the feelings of a biological man that identifies as a woman – is also outraged by the term (word) cockpit? Hypocritical much?
All this wokeism is so insane.
While I do not have a problem with how anyone chooses to dress, how they would like to present themselves to the world in terms of projecting a male/female/furry appearance – I do have a problem with my comfort level being sacrificed for anyone who chooses and alternative lifestyle. I also don’t care about anyone else’s sexual preferences … in fact, so much so I don’t even want to know!
If I am out in public I am respectful of others in the public space, I try to keep in mind that people come from all walks of life, cultures, races, religions etc … and something that may seem innocent or harmless to me may be offensive to someone else and I expect the same courtesy,
Just because one makes a choice to be very different from the majority of society does not give anyone the right to force their ideas, desires or experiences on others, Not in public.
When we live in a world where mere words are more offensive than actual deeds/actions , it’s time to take a look at ourselves and reset!
hello Carrie.
In regards to airline restrooms, those are all gender neutral and single use. Women’s restrooms don’t have urinals but rather stalls so rarely does someone expose themselves in a women’s restroom to anyone. Men’s restrooms notoriously have urinals that some men feel uncomfortable using and there’s even the old joke that it’s rude to go and use an adjacent urinal when they could instead use one further away.
Sweden has notoriously had unisex bathrooms for years, but even when I visited there I didn’t personally check.
On the one hand, I can see how the language is out of tune and even silly such as “guys”. And heck, “ladies and gentlemen” is also increasingly outdated in that it refers to feudalistic privilege where “gentle”men didn’t have to work since they were wealthy landowners with serfs and slaves to do to the work for them (the term “redneck” was a pejorative to describe southern men who weren’t “gentle”men who had to do their own menial, outdoor labor).
On the other hand, the term “lady and gentlemen” also became synonymous with better behavior overall: A poor person might literally not have the luxury of having learned how to behave in a more constructive manner, sadly. Manners became a sort of game to help “out” “new money” or people who had been raised outside of certain classes and didn’t know the difference between a salad and dessert fork. Accents also were notoriously used to peg someone to a lower social class.
So all that said, it would be nice to see manners truly constructively taught in public rather than just protected groups being protected.
Sure, let’s change aviation terminology, such as “cockpit”, because it might be offensive to people who have no knowledge as to its origin. I guarantee that most pilots are laughing this one off as just so much ridiculous nonsense from people who can’t tell an aileron from an elevator.
Americans are a very sensitive bunch…”The word COCKPIT comes from “cock”, which was an old English term for a small boat, and “swain” which is a servant. So simply put, a cockswain is a boat servant. Over time, the title led to the steering compartment of smaller boats where the cockswain sat, then the area became known as the cockpit.” (ibid. Google).
No offense but it might refer to the male genitalia to some. I do prefer the use of ‘flight deck’ for a modern jetliner just because it sounds more professional.
That describes Aaron, an actual cock servant
So now AA-RON wants to sit on my flight dick?
Please help I’m getting so confused.
“They don’t call it the cockpit for nothing, honey.” – that line and its variations came from the Airport 79 movie with the Concorde. Pilot George Kennedy says it to flight attendant Sylvia Krystal.
A better headline for this article would have been “Lazy Fox News Entertainer Dusts Off 3-Year Old Memo.”
I agree with Matthew on this one, and am saving my energy for better pursuits like work.
Yet….. you took the time to respond. lol. So predictable.
@ Matt the Twat
[I’m an idiot.]
I know that. You proved that in that Singapore Airlines service article years ago that Ben wrote. You’re laughably stupid and insufferably vain. Bye, Felicia.
What is this drama?
Platy is going around whining because he can’t get people removed over his partisan politics. They really are an insufferable clown bunch.
@Brandon, if you care to, please respond to his diatribe in the Fauci post. He certainly took time to write it and deeply believed in what he wrote.
I have no more tolerance for people who come in here announcing they are the only intelligent ones: it shows a certain dull-wittedness and even narcissism and as I make the point with Trump often, the human quality I loathe most is narcissism.
But he raised some ostensibly reasonable points in the Fauci post (that would have been so much better received if he had not been peppered them with petty insults) that warrant further thought.
@Matt, which article? The one from a few weeks ago?
I found it. I’ll try. Ugh, he/she/they are really a special being.
That being said, at first read they cherry picked “where” it “worked” and conflate working with the literal shutdown of society on “islands” for years. (china notwithstanding, as well, who trusts any data coming out of china at face value?) Anyway, yes, I will respond. I closed the page weeks ago and typically don’t go back when I do.
The dude posts from an Australian IP, so perhaps he comes with that perspective.
@Matt,
Do you want all of my links too? It will be quite a lot? I’m already up to like 500 words with no links. Just FWIW. I feel like I’m writing a college paper again. lol. Not that I have much going on at work until mid next week. That being said, I have nuggets specific to Australia I can include, just to further drive home the point. Nothing he stated is remotely accurate, even his “gotcha” with the “pre/a-symptomatic spread” he thought he had.
However you want is fine.
My airline (Continental, now United) did change the name from cockpit to flight deck, but I’m thinking that was at least 15 or more years ago, maybe closer to 20. It got mocked a lot, but people use both terms interchangeably.
I am Miss. I find Ms. to be horribly offensive and derogatory. A Ms. is a radical feminist whose entire life purpose is to abort babies. Nobody from ALPA better ever call me Ms.
Guys is a gender neutral term referring to everyone.
This is all so silly.