Page 38 - July19TNT

From the Flight Deck
by Kevin R. Dingman
Aviation memories: Poignant and
playful (and sometimes rated “M” for Mature).
Say What!
Aviation humor is a dialec- tal minefield for a writer and can easily poke an eye out if misused. Cartoonist Gary Larson was great at it. And a tactful, tastefully presented and good spirited bit of hu- mor (or sarcasm) can help information and lessons stick in our memory better than IMSAFE, CIGAR, ARROW, GUMP or Identify, Verify and Feather. It can also counter- balance the effects of the life- sucking, joy-robbing ordeal of Part 121 aircrew scheduling in a thunderstorm infested, over- sold, 737 MAX grounding post 9/11 era. I’ll stop whining like a T-37 engine now and enter the humor minefield with a true story. Mature metaphor alert: children look away.
First, you have to picture
the setting: A crowd of tired, grumpy travelers sitting elbow-to-elbow and no one
knows anyone – 160 strangers. Fear- ing a possible customer complaint and reprisal, a female f light attendant on my crew alerted me to an exchange that she had with a retired female flight attendant that was traveling in coach on an employee pass. (Don’t get huffy thinking this is a sexist story because of my repetitive use of female – the reason for emphasizing their gender will be poignantly presented shortly).
It was an early morning, weekday f light full of mostly male, time-stressed, business travelers. The retiree was frazzled from the arduous ordeal of space-available travel – a pain of which
you can’t fully empathize until you’ve traveled standby over several decades and have been left behind fifty-eleven times. Having turned down the offer of a sooth- ing, stress relieving and free alcoholic beverage earlier, the working f light attendant once again empathetically broached the subject with a reassuring and innocently intended offer.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like some vodka in that juice or a couple of Bai- leys for your coffee?” Then leaning in a bit with a lowered voice she added a non-condemning, girl-to-girl reassur- ance: “Ya know, there’s nothing wrong with a good stiff-one in the morning.” Of
course, the two guys sitting cheek-to-cheek on both sides of the beautiful lady took the statement quite differently (mind in the gutter and all) and after one choked on his coffee, both began laughing to tears. Instantly, the two ladies realized the second- ary, totally unintentional in- ference of the question and turned red before also burst- ing into laughter. The angst from her space-available travel was quickly washed away without the assistance of a morning, um, drink.
I was reviewing a short essay on the pleasures and pitfalls of authors that use humor as a writing tool; specifically, the use of a well-intended, accidentally hysterical play on words. By necessity, such humor- ous linguistic legerdemain when intentionally presented
by a writer must be born of a common frame of reference, language, history and honest respect for social decorum – George Carlin’s list of seven prohib- ited words excluded from consideration. Assuming a level of tolerance from the receiving audience, and that the word- smithing comes from a non-malicious heart, few things have the same effect on a reader as humor. Humor can also facilitate new relationships by relieving stress and anxiousness and can allow us to be more open minded by “breaking the ice.” On the other hand, some hu- morous stories are just plain hysterical with very little redeeming social value
36 • TWIN & TURBINE / July 2019