QX [Was: Bravo Zulu]

On Sun, 19 Jan 2003 12:59:04 +0100 "K.H.Ranitzsch"
> <KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de> wrote:

> From: "Aaron Teske" <mithramuse@njaccess.com>
someplace. <<

> Not sure if it applies here, but many old abbreviations, especially

Not so amateur... many odd-looking abbreviation still in use come from
standard Morse codes that were used to reduce the amount of transmission time
needed to ask FAQ's, particularly with the then state
of the art in long-distance and airborne radios -- e.g., QNH and QFE
from air navigation. It's a heck of a lot quicker to send QFE to a
ground station than "What is the current ground-level air pressure?",
and equally the reply "QFE 2994" is a lot quicker and easier to comprehend
than a full sentence. We have better radios these days, so Morse is a dying
art, but the codes are still used.

Getting back to Smith, I always thought that QX was a sneaky way of showing
how language evolves over time. Kim Kinnison and co. use it where we'd use OK,
and comparing the letters made me think that this was an unmentioned case of a
gradual slide from one to the other between now and whenever the stories were
set. Don't think it had anything to do with the use of Q in radio codes,
except very peripherally.

Phil
----
"Sic Transit Gloria Barramundi" (Or, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!)