It turns out the creativity of flight attendants doesn’t stop with the pre-takeoff safety demonstration; they have slang for all kinds of fun stuff, from the lipstick they apply before passengers deplane (landing lips) to the “2-for-1 special,” which is when the plane hits the runway upon landing, then bounces up and lands again. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Flight Attendant Lingo”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
I have a new friend who was a flight attendant for many, many years, and she’s been regaling me with the jargon that they use.
Oh, boy.
And, Grant, you’re going to love it. It’s just delicious.
I’ve got a long, long list here, but let me just share a couple of them with you.
Do you know what a two-for-one special is?
No.
This is when the plane hits the runway once and goes back up a little bit and then hits the runway again.
On the way down?
Yes, it’s something that the pilot is supposed to do if the runway is slick because it breaks the water plane and makes it land more smoothly, actually.
Wow, okay.
So a two-for-one special, bump, bump.
Right.
These are things that we’ve experienced, that we’ve seen, but we didn’t know that there were terms for them.
Because we don’t fly all the time, but they do, so they need the shorthand.
Yes, exactly.
You know what the double ding is?
Get in your seat.
No.
I don’t know.
That’s when they reach 10,000 feet.
My friend describes it as the best sound in the world because it means you’re almost home.
The double ding.
Ding, ding.
Oh, oh, yeah.
Yeah, and then landing lips.
What are those?
Take a guess.
When your mouth is closed really tightly because you’re nervous.
I don’t know.
You’re like, meh.
That’s a great guess, but it’s happier than that.
Landing lips are what you put on right before the passengers deplane.
The fake smile.
Thank you, thank you.
Well, no, you actually put on lipstick.
Oh, I see.
Most flight attendants are female, right?
So you have landing lips.
Some of them do it too, but yeah.
Yeah, and boarding lips too, so that you can present a good front, right?
Sure, that’s expected.
One more term, equipment.
The coffee maker, the most important thing on the plane.
I love that you said that.
No?
Because they regularly refer to planes as the equipment.
Oh, okay.
Isn’t that great?
A giant multi-ton vehicle is just equipment.
Are we taking the equipment back?
Sounds like something you could fit in a shirt pocket.
Right, but it’s not.
And I have lots and lots of these.
Some of them are a little naughty, and maybe I’ll share some of those later in the show.
Ooh, delicious.
But anyway, we love to hear about jargon from anybody’s workplace.
So call us, 877-929-9673, or send it an email to words@waywordradio.org.
