another "moment" for WOTY consideration

Thu Oct 15 21:07:28 UTC 2009

In the old Army Security Agency Special Operations Unit in
Berlin-West, the burlesque took the form of using the name of some
famous female personage - there were no women in the Security Agency
or anywhere else in the Army, except for the WAC's; at the time, this
king of mockery of women seemed only natural; like, it was just us
guys, WTF? - whose initials were the same as those of the guy signing
off on an intercept. E.g., _J_ohn _K_ershaw signed off thus:

"This is operator _J_ackie _K_ennedy."

Those of us who weren't able to do this, e.g., your humble
correspondent, instead effed around with asinine variations on the
official form of the "alphabet."

BTW, back then, the phrase, "Special Ops," was regarded only as a
joke. that the phrase has now become so fraught with meaning these
days is wicked weird. The problem is with the word, "special," since
it had only the meaning that it has in "special education" or in
"special borrower." At Harvard, the word "special" refers to the fact
that a library user, or "borrower," is *not* a member of the Harvard
community. The Berlin Special Troops were those members of the Berlin
Brigade who were *not* counted among those expected to man the front
lines in the Outpost of Freedom: clerks, cooks, bandsmen, MP's, etc..

The former voice-interceptor known as "operator Waterspout Grasshopper,"

-Wilson Gray

On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net> wrote:
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> Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: another "moment" for WOTY consideration
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> would have been "William Tare Fox" in those days.
>
> Bill P
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 11:18 AM
> Subject: Re: another "moment" for WOTY consideration
>
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: another "moment" for WOTY consideration
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Wackipedia notes that the current NATO radiocommunications alphabet, the
>> source of Whisky, Tango, Foctrot, was first "implemented" by the
>> Interantional Civil Aviation Organization in November 1951. It was
>> adopted,
>> with some alterations, by NATO in 1956.
>>
>> During the Vietnam War the Air Force occasionally used the burlesque
>> phrase,
>> "What the fuck, over?" and they also used the NATO alphabet.
>>
>> The mirth resides in the fact that radio communications (the allusion in
>> "over") must be as brief as possible, and expletives are forbidden.  So
>> the
>> phrase, to the discerning, implies a high-stress situation, possibly
>> involving Murphy's Law.
>>
>> Thus (and there's a lesson here, you whippersnappers) "Whisky Tango
>> Foxtrot"
>> meaning "What the f^*k??" *could* be as creakily ancient as 1951-52, but I
>> can't find a recorded trace of it before 2000.
>>
>> JL
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Mark Mandel
>> <Mark.A.Mandel at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Mark Mandel <Mark.A.Mandel at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: another "moment" for WOTY consideration
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> I've seen "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot", though not AFAIR modifying "moment",
>>> for
>>> several years at least.
>>>
>>> m a m
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 7:13 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
>>> >wrote:
>>>
>>> >  From Arianna Huffington's argument that Joe Biden should resign and
>>> > become the point person for opposition to the war in Afghanistan:
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/why-joe-biden-should-resi_b_320929.html
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > In June, Gen. Jones, the president's National Security Advisor, was
>>> > at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan, meeting with U.S. commanders
>>> > there. This was shortly after the arrival of the 21,000 additional
>>> > troops President Obama had sent over. Jones raised the question of
>>> > what the president's reaction would be if he were asked for even more
>>> > troops. Well, Jones said, answering his own question, if that
>>> > happened, the president would probably have a "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
>>> > moment." In other words, wtf?
>>> >
>>> > Well, Obama has gotten that request, but it wasn't a "Whiskey Tango
>>> > Foxtrot moment" for him after all. Sadly, Newsweek reports that Obama
>>> > is typically "looking for a middle way." But this isn't a negotiation
>>> > for a used car, where you split the difference. It's either in our
>>> > national security interest to be there or it isn't. It's either a
>>> > necessary war or it isn't.
>>> > ==================
>>> >
>>> > I haven't encountered Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments before, at least
>>> > not by name.
>>> >
>>> > LH
>>> >
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>>> >
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
>> Platypus"
>>
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--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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