PAN PAN....OR PON PON

[mickt243]

I'll tender a proposed amendment to my last, being that "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate" is a little aerospace centric....

I suggest

Marinate - Navigate - Communicate

Marinate referring to the skipper/captain/master of the vessel is ultimately responsible for the safety of the vessel and crew (just like a pilot)...

So

Marinate - keep the vessel safe, take whatever action is necessary to keep the vessel and her crew safe - AT THE EXPENSE OF ALL ELSE - if this takes all of your available effort, then so be it, if not then

Navigate, (as before) then

Communicate (as before)






So, who is off to write my message on the front cover of their emergency procedures guide, or in sharpie pen on the helm!

[AquaGeo]

I just imagine a deep Aussie accent in panic declaring
"PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN" assistance required...
and a french accent following up with
"I can assist, it is pronounced Panh Panh"

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by AquaGeo

I just imagine a deep Aussie accent in panic declaring
"PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN" assistance required...
and a french accent following up with
"I can assist, it is pronounced Panh Panh"

Your chance to say "merci beaucoup, mon ami(e)", and continue with your message. They will be kind to you when you treat them with respect....whoever "they" are.

Ann

[boatman61]

Much ado about nothing..
Kinda like whether its Toe-may-toe.. or.. Toe-mah-toe...

[belle-isle]

Originally Posted by AquaGeo

I just imagine a deep Aussie accent in panic declaring
"PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN" assistance required...
and a french accent following up with
"I can assist, it is pronounced Panh Panh"

Your post exactly drives home the point : these international rules are made so than anyone, wherever they come from, and wherever they are located, will be able to either send an urgency message or receive it and understand the urgency character of the message. Whether Aussie, French, Filipino, Zulu or whatever.

While reading the thread, I became uneasy over comments saying in substance that 'if I call the coast guard with Pon Pon and they understand me, then that's all I care about'. In my opinion this is not sufficient. First, the assistance you need might come not from the coast guard but from another vessel, foreign or not. Second, if you hear a Pan Pan on the radio, it may not be your fellow local boat calling for help, it might be a foreign visitor, and his call should be understood as urgent even if it doesn't use the local lingo. This is why, as many have pointed, only the standard pronunciation should be used, however it may be transliterated in your local dialect. In most US cases, that would be close to "pahn pahn" and certainly not "pawn pawn".

Finally, I might add that the entertaining aspect of this thread was augmented for me when actually witnessing how 5 foreign-sounding words (mayday, pan pan, sécurité, silence, fini) wreaked such havoc among English speakers. Put yourself in the shoes of the billions of other people on this planet who would have to actually broadcast under stress the rest of their message in a language that is not their mother tongue (English). I'll let you guess how ridiculous such bickering as "why do we have to call out for bread when we have a situation ?" sounds. Especially when "panne" means "breakdown" and doesn't have anything to do with "pain" (bread). Anyhow, thank you USCG for the huge joke of Pon Pon !


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[AquaGeo]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Your chance to say "merci beaucoup, mon ami(e)", and continue with your message. They will be kind to you when you treat them with respect....whoever "they" are.

Ann

I was making an ironic statement, a jest even. You see in this joke the accents are not the issue, but the respondent believes the urgent assistance that is required is regarding pronunciation and not another emergency situation...

I chose French due to the origin of the maritime emergency comms procedure (or what I believe it to be regardless). Nothing to do with a disregard for any nationality, I hope that was clear

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by AquaGeo

I was making an ironic statement, a jest even. You see in this joke the accents are not the issue, but the respondent believes the urgent assistance that is required is regarding pronunciation and not another emergency situation...

I chose French due to the origin of the maritime emergency comms procedure (or what I believe it to be regardless). Nothing to do with a disregard for any nationality, I hope that was clear

^^^^^^

Sorry, AquaGeo,

Didn't mean to rip off your joke. It's one of the things that I hate about internet communications, it is difficult to indicate humorous intent, at least, for me. Sorry,

Ann

[AquaGeo]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

^^^^^^

Sorry, AquaGeo,

Didn't mean to rip off your joke. It's one of the things that I hate about internet communications, it is difficult to indicate humorous intent, at least, for me. Sorry,

Ann

So true,

No stress

[Intrepid-FL]

You can pronounce it Pan or Pahn. As a USCG Master Captain, I've heard it pronounced both ways, including by the Coast Guard. Chapman Piloting & Seamanship says "properly pronounced Pahn-Pahn". Either way, it will be understood. :-)

[Lake-Effect]

On Monday, the USCG based in Buffalo were saying "Pon pon" on CH 16.


To my ear, both "pan pan" and "pon pon" are fairly distinguishable and unambiguous. Especially after the repeats.