origins

There is this saying "if you steal from 1 ... it's plagiarism ... if you steal from many ... it's called research".  We will leave that up to you to judge ... but the origins of #gothaspeak can be traced back to Formula 1. It so happens that there is a quite a bit of Formula 1 passion at the core of #gothacrew. 

In case you are familiar with Formula 1 ... the name Ron Dennis should ring a bell ... if you are not ... allow us to clue you in.  Sir Ron Dennis CBE has been the driving force behind the McLaren Formula 1 race team ... one of the leading outfits in Formula 1. Over the years, Ron Dennis has been at the forefront ... in transforming this outfit into a regular championship contender. Many drivers and construction championships were won with such famous drivers ... such as Niki Lauda ... Alain Prost ... Lewis Hamilton ... and of course none the least the late Ayrton Senna ... who won 3 world championships with McLaren.

Having started as a mechanic ... Ron Dennis has been instrumental in innovation ... with relentless pursuit in advanced engineering and manufacturing ... such as a McLaren car being the first ... to boast a full composite monocoque. It may have been too late ... to help the late Ayrton Senna (his fateful day was in a Williams, not a McLaren) ... but composites have played a key role in making Formula 1 a safe sport nowadays.

It so happens that Ron Dennis has also become legendary for something else ... which has gradually evolved and started to live a life on its own ...  "formula"ted by a popular term ... better known as "Ronspeak".

"Ronspeak" is the term coined for the style of speech used by Ron Dennis ... a well-used phrase in the F1 paddock to describe sentences of unneeded complexity ... renowned for verbose, evasive and cautious answers ... to questions ... from Formula One journalists.

ronspeak in action

"I am very driven by aesthetics. When I look at our cars ... my own enthusiasms therefore tend to be a little more influenced by aesthetics than you might expect. On the other hand ... I am a firm believer in the adage that form follows function ... or to put it another way ... a fast racing car ... is surprisingly often a beautiful racing car." 

a.k.a: a quick car looks fast

"So ... to revert to the specificity of your question ... I'm not going to hypothesise about what might have happened had we done things differently ... because I don't think there's anything specifically wrong with the way we've done things."

 a.k.a: don't doubt me

"Surprisingly for us ... the psychological blow of it raining halfway through qualifying in Australia ... was much greater than we anticipated."

 a.k.a: we didn't see the rain coming

we could go on and on ... and invite you to learn more about ronspeak in the social space ... but that would lead us beyond the purpose of this article.

"give the credit where the credit is due" ... which is why we shared where we got the linguistic inspiration from ... however, #gothaspeak has a different objective at heart. 

#gothaspeak

WWI aviation is a niche in the hobby ... we are a small community of enthusiasts. That may be unfortunate ... but therein precisely lies the challenge ... as well as the opportunity. The pioneering age of aviation ... has all the assets at hand ... to inspire a broader audience ... which it truly deserves. It is why we feel we could work together to make that happen.  A common language can be of help ... and that's exactly what #gothaspeak is all about.

#gothaspeak is meant to be catchy, playful and engaging.  Unlike ronspeak ... it is supposed to be KISS (Keep It Simple and Straight).  We gave it a head start with what we felt are some cool ones ... an initial glossary of terms .. so let's see where that takes us. Following the "wisdom of the crowd" principle ... probably the best #gothaspeak term is still to be born. Until further notice ... #gotha! ... is our number one favourite.

You will notice that #gothaspeak terms are preceded by a hashtag. That's by design ... as in the social space ... hashtags are a way to group social conversations around a certain topic ... making it very easy for people to find content around particular topics of interest.

We can only encourage you to use #gothaspeak hashtag terms in social conversations ... as it only will help ... to find each other and unite more easily.

#gotha!