On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 13:00:25 GMT, "Morton Davis"
wrote:


"Shaun" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 02:32:14 GMT, " Bogart "
wrote:

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 00:25:04 GMT,
(Nick Cooper) wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 20:06:08 GMT, " Bogart "
wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 20:12:56 +0000, Shaun
wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 19:06:55 GMT, " Bogart "
wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 18:50:49 -0000, "nick"
wrote:

"Some flights to the US could be grounded after the airline pilots'
union
called on its members not to fly with armed sky marshals on board."

"Airline pilots should not take off with marshals on board, the
British
Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa) has said."

"Capt Granshaw defended pilots' right to take action and said: "Our
advice
to pilots is that until adequate written and agreed assurances are
received,
flight crew should not operate flights where sky marshals are
carried."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3357309.stm

Maybe you 'fraidy cats would like us to loan you some properly
trained
US Sky Marshals?

Are they as cowardly as the US passengers who were too scared to deal
with four arabs armed with carpet knifes

What 4 Arabs armed with Carpet knives?

The ones on three out of four planes that took off one September
mornign a couple of years back

You mean the guys carrying BOX CUTTERS?

No, I meant guys carrying Stanley Knifes, but I didn't want to
advertise the number one carpet cutting tool in the UK

Stanley knives? Made by Stanley Tools, of the USA? I think you'll find the
box cutters used on 9-11 to be about 1/1o the overall size. A box cutter is
about 5" long, by 1" wide, by 1/8" thick. Closed, it looks like a big stick
of chewing gum, but it holds a single-edged razorblade that is used as the
cutting blade. Box cutters are the weapon of choice for some teen gang
members. They're a nasty slashing weapon that can create nasty, gaping
wounds that are all the way to the bone.

"Stanley Knife" is pretty much a generic term in the UK for any heavy-
or medium-duty retractable (although some aren't) utility or craft
knife. It's one of those cases where the brand name that came to
prominence first becomes the generic, even when it's not appropriate.
E.g. Walkman, Frisbee, Hoover, etc.

"Box cutter" was a term unknown in the UK pre-11 Sept., and certainly
from the specific decription on Wikipedia, we don't have anything that
matches it exactly, certainly not in respect of using a single-edged
razor blade. In fact, that type of razor blade isn't even
particularly common here, either, since the double-edged type is more
prevalent. You will note that Wikipedia does say that a "Stanley
Knife" is the nearest equivalent in British English usage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box-cutter_knife




--
Nick Cooper

[Carefully remove the detonators from my e-mail address to reply!]

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