DCHP-3

ramp ceremony

DCHP-2 (Jan 2015)

Non-Canadianism

This is a word that our editors have determined is not a Canadianism.

n. — Military

a ceremony held as the body of a soldier killed in action overseas is loaded onto a plane returning it to Canada.

The term, suggested as a Canadianism (Dollinger 2006b: 6), is much more frequent in Australia (see Chart 1). The ceremony appears to have been adopted by the Canadian Forces contingent in Afghanistan, where their Australian colleagues had used it since at least the late 1990s.

Quotations

2006
Photo: Canadian Press / Pallbearers carry the casket of Cpl. Paul James Davis during a ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield yesterday.
2007
[...] following a ramp ceremony earlier today at Kandahar Airfield.
2014
After a ramp ceremony, where we said goodbye to four of Canada's finest sons, a lone piper stood on the roof of the airport terminal, in the setting sun, and played Amazing Grace.

References

  • Dollinger (2006b)

Images

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 2 Feb. 2015

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 2 Feb. 2015