In a previous article, Roy Smith said:
"Clearance, Cessna xxxx, IFR to where-ever."

"Cessna xxxx, clearance on request."
[snip]
"I'd like my clearance now."

You can imagine how the conversation went downhill from there :-)

Knowing the controllers I've encountered, they'd just repeat "clearance on
request", forever and ever, never explaining what it means no matter how
puzzled you sounded.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Their constitution is unwritten, and is mostly based on common law and
practice. In other words, they do something wrong and it then becomes
the norm. -- Laurie Couturier, on the British legal system