Posted by The Captain on February 24, 2000 at 07:18:12:
In Reply to: Re: Keep your head down SIR, if you please! posted by MR. tali urulu III on February 23, 2000 at 23:43:19:
I am Tali Urulu III, grandson of Chief Tali Urulu, whose very real association with Cdr(Ret.)Quinton McHale during World War II was parodied in the American television series, McHale's Navy (note the referenced URL).
: 4. I must also note that it is not unheard of for persons to claim (on the Internet or otherwise) a right to be addressed by a military or naval rank that they were never, or are no longer, entitled to claim. (I was personally shocked to learn that Col. Sanders did not, in fact, lead the charge up "Drum Stick Hill" during the Korean War.)
: MR. Tali Urulu III
: P.S. Thank you for the names of the tailors; I will pass them along to Cdr (Ret.) McHale who has made clear his intention to be buried in a uniform as well-tailored as The Captain's.
Sir:
My yeoman is mortified, but he did meet several suitable acquaintances at the Chafed Kingspoke and the search for "Miss Tali" presented a fortuitous opening line...more than once. About the midnight skinny dipping...
A Digression: The term "captain" is more commonly bandied about than the term "colonel." There are bell captains, waiters addressed as captain ("Captain, a seat near the quality")and captains of industry (Iococca?). There are captains of chain gangs ("Take this hammer and carry it to the captain.") The army, air force, and marines generate a species of lesser captains at the O-3 level(far too many for my liking)in their own misguided way. The foreign legion has their species of lesser captain ("Regardez, mon capitan, Zinderneuf").
Then there are nautical captains. At certain marinas anyone with either a tiller, a wheel, or a cocktail glass in his hand is addressed as "Captain" by the dockboy who is generously rewarded for this courtesy. Naval and merchant service tradition is the head man on a vessel is addressed as captain regardless of grade or pay.
Then there are commissioned or certified captains. These captains are entitled to wear four rings on their cuffs, at the O-6 level. Commissions come from the President (USN or USNR, USCG or USCGR) or the governor (e.g.,New York Naval Militia). Or by taking certain tests and spending fixed amounts of time at sea aboard suitable vessels you can earn a Master's certificate in the Merchant Service (Mercantile Service if you are British).
Now you seem to be comparing me with Col. Sanders who is more likely to have fought in the War Between the States as I think he would style it. Or he may be a Kentucky Colonel which is now an honorary title and used to be assigned to folks who owned plantations.
Look above you and consider. I am a captain, in fact redundantly so. I qualify, by my count about four different ways. Clue: I am not now not have I ever been a bell captain or administered a chain gang.
Nash, returning to the original subject, observes that in certain Eskimo cultures husbands are now to be fairly generous in spousal concerns with respect to visitors and wonders if Seider Island culture follows the same lines...
Hmm, I would not take him seriously. He gets this way when he practices his ukelele and there is a full moon.
Are you a full professor, or merely an associate professor? A graduate from an university where they wear shoes?
THE CAPTAIN