4 ms·
souls. Not bodies.
by sanatgersappa 10y ago
souls. Not bodies.
- JshWright 10y agoNot sure if you're serious or not, but 'souls' is the term used to refer to everyone onboard a plane (when declaring an emergency, etc)
- gumby 10y agoIt was a military plane. It would not be astonishing if it turned out that the number of bodies aboard were significantly greater than the number of souls aboard. (Actually the way I see it there are never more than zero souls aboard, but I understand it's a metaphor)
- JshWright 10y agoIt's not a metaphor, it's just jargon. It's how the total number of people on board an aircraft is clearly expressed without the confusion of "I've got 37 people aboard" "Ok... is that 37 including you, or 37 plus the pilot?"
- inopinatus 10y agoThe juxtaposition is a well-known jest: "Ankh-Morpork! Brawling city of a hundred thousand souls! And, as the Patrician privately observed, ten times that number of actual people." - Pratchett, Terry (1989), Guards! Guards!, Corgi UK. I suggest the usage is wry rather than derogatory, unless accompanied by more specific disparagement.
- ptaffs 10y agoI flew with my final-trimester (ie very visibly) pregnant wife in a small helicopter. The pilot announced the number of souls including the unborn, i was, (and still aren't) sure whether this was just cute for effect, or what he was supposed to do.
- Arizhel 10y agoOk, but what do they do for Air Force One? The only souls on that plane when it's flying are likely to be the pilot and copilot. Same goes for any corporate jets used by corporate executives.