Hyphenation (was: Sichuan cuisine (Chengdu greetings); Chinese English)

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 9/19/02 1:04:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mam at THEWORLD.COM
writes:

> Computer typesetting is ever so fine
>  For breaking long words that run over the line.
>  But here in the paper, I'm sorry to tell,
>  It hyphenates "moonglow" between "g" and "l".*
>
>* New York Times, March 7, 2000, page A20

The route an airplane flies is specified in the flight plan as a series of
line segments.  A point where two line segments meet is a "fix".  Fixes can
be specified as "lat-long" (latitude and longitude, specified in degrees and
minutes) but commonly used fixes have been assigned names which keeps flight
planning from being an exercise in copying digits.  Fix names (except those
for airports) are usually five letters and are usually pronounceable, e.g.
near MIA (Miami Int'l Airport) are fixes naned "THNDR" and "DRUUM".  Oakland
Oceanic airspace has PASSA, DEENA, and SMOGG.

(I once walked into an office at the New York air route traffic control
center and said, "I need a fix."  Without a pause the man at the nearest desk
handed me an airspace map.)

MOONG is a plausibe name for a fix.  Probably in Boston center's airspace,
over Gloucester, Massachusetts, where at one time the Unification Church was
buying up real estate.

Now there is a change in rules, in US domestic airspace, at 18,000 feet
altitude, or as we call it, "flight level 180".  Frequently one set of
controllers handles the flights below 180 around a particular fix and a
different set handles the flights above 180.  The first controllers are "LOW"
and the second set are "HIGH".

If there is a lot of traffic past MOONG then the airspace around it might
well be divided into two "sectors", one below and one above 180.  The first
sector would be referred to as "MOONG LOW" and the second as "MOONG HIGH".

Perhaps the New York TImes was doing its typesetting on second-hand FAA
computers.

       - Jim Landau
         systems engineer
         FAA Technical Center (ACB-510/BCI)
         Atlantic City Int'l Airport NJ 08405 USA

P.S.  How does the New York Times hyphenate "Rangoon"?  Or another famous
city in Myanmar, "Myitkyini"?