Calling a person by the wrong name is a social faux pas that one should always avoid. I make sure I am not using the wrong name (or pronunciation for that matter) when referring to people, places and of course airlines.
Lately I have noticed a worrying trend of people referring to airlines by whatever shorthand they see fit. When it is blatantly incorrect, I can’t help but think how stupid these people must be.
It’s The Wrong Name, Dummy!
Quite frequently I am seeing Alaska Airlines referred to by the wrong name. People seem to casually refer to it as Alaskan, which is just totally incorrect. Sure, you could say it’s a casual way of abbreviating it, but it comes across as lazy.
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- The name is quite clear on the side of the plane!
Another one that astonished me recently was a person writing about the oneworld carrier Royal Air Maroc. The person posting quite happily referred to it twice as Air Morocco when asking a question about the airline. Seriously?!
There is another habit I have noticed, which seems to be peculiar to people in the USA when referring to British Airways. This is conveniently (?!) shortened to British Air more often than you’d think, which is just weird to me.
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- The name is written in all capital letters for a reason.
The other two I notice as an Australian living in Ireland is Qantas being spelled Quantas and Aer Lingus being written as Air Lingus. This is understandable though, as many don’t know the Australian airline’s name was originally an acronym (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services), and very few people know Irish (Aer Lingus means Air Fleet).
Overall Thoughts
Why do people insist on using the wrong name for airlines under certain circumstances? Is it people being lazy, forgetful or something else? I strive for accuracy wherever possible, so this kind of thing completely baffles me. You may as well refer to Delta as Del, Southwest as Southw, United as Uni, Frontier as Front – it’s just as ridiculous in my eyes.
Luckily I know my airlines, so it’s easy to know what people mean (Air Morocco! *snort*), but others may be more easily confused. Either way, don’t get me started on my personal bugbear, which is aircraft being referred to as “aircrafts”. Ugh!
Have you come across people using the wrong name for any particular airline? I’d love to hear your examples or indeed a reason why you think people do this. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Royal Air Maroc by N509FZ via Wikimedia Commons.
Qantas by Adam Moreira via Wikimedia Commons.
Trent, don’t even get me started! A lot of the crimes have already been mentioned by other responders so I won’t repeat them. Now gone, many people referred to America West as American West and PeoplExpress as People’s Express. Unrelated but here in the US some folks, usually of Southern extraction, put an R in the word wash. “I gotta do my warsh.” Auuuugggggh. Regional linguistics can be VERY annoying.
I can imagine people doing American West… People’s Express sounds vaguely Communist, doesn’t it? Good grief. Yes, it’s always fun to hear regional variations… makes it easy to work out where people are from though!
Hmmm . Well GUILTY referring to British Airways as British Air and sometimes as BOAC and Swiss as Swissair … because I’m OLD enough to have had the privilege of flying on BOAC VC-10’s and Swissair DC-8’s along with PanAm and Lufthansa 707’s and Air France 707’s and Sud Caravelles among others. No I’m NOT lazy … just reminiscing of what once was I suppose.
You have the experience that allows it, methinks! You’ve been on some very famous airlines on some of the pioneering jet aircraft so I think that deserves a pass.
How do you pronounce Qatar Airways?
Kuh-tar
Cutter
Kat-ar
Guitar
🙂
There’s a minefield right there! 🙂 However His Excellency Akbar Al Baker pronounces it!! haha!
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Guilty here on Qantas. I had a bout of brain death and forgot the acronym.
It happens, it’s drummed into us as kids that there is always a u after a q.
They should call Alaskan Airlines the Indigent People’s airlines since this is who the country really belongs to.
I see.
Or how about when people type it out as Deta Airlines when it’s actually Delta Air Lines.
Good call! I have always written it with the proper spacing, and I like how they continue to keep it that way. I think it looks better too. Thanks for the comment!