Apologies if this has been asked before, but I just wanted to clear something up. Does anybody know the correct pronunciation for the ‘About Turn’ command - we have a new cadet who has transferred in from another squadron claiming it’s pronounced ‘ah-bout’ as opposed to ‘ay-bout’ (or ‘ey-bout’) - which has caused all sorts of confusion and uproar among many of the cadet NCO’s and the staff.
If you don’t know the ‘official’ pronunciation - what do you use on your squadron?
Thanks.
In english, the word “about” is pronounced “Ah-bowt” ( /əˈbaʊt/ )
That is probably as official a pronunciation you can get and I’ve seen nothing in 818 to suggest that it should start “Ay”
It probably doesn’t really matter a great deal, though your new guy would seem to be more correct than you 
Of greater concern is ensuring that the “turn” is pronounced “Turn!” and not “TAAAAAAH!”
How is it causing confusion?
As you travel around the country, counties or even districts people pronounce words differently, so in this instance consider it as part of the general education we offer to cadets.
I’ve tended, in my time, to use the ay-bout when doing drill but I know people who do it differently, but we all end facing / going the opposite direction which is the main thing. If this is happening on your squadron then things must be fine. If on the other hand cadets are turning left or right, then you have a problem.
I’ve got NCOs who use variants of this and there are no problems.
I would be extremely happy if a cadet or member of staff came to me with this as a problem, because it would mean the squadron is doing really well and there is nothing else to worry about.
The staff who run our SNCO courses say either pronunciation is fine.
However the (cadet) SNCOs on our squadron say ah-bout because you don’t say ay-bout in real life. In my opinion, ay-bout is easier and I say it most of the time. I don’t see why ‘you don’t say it in real life’ should be a reason to not say it - it rolls of the tongue better, more people are used to it so I see no reason to not use it. No directive (that I’m aware of) has been issued from anywhere high up in the ACO regarding it.
[quote=“Cerfwo” post=24381]The staff who run our SNCO courses say either pronunciation is fine.
However the (cadet) SNCOs on our squadron say ah-bout because you don’t say ay-bout in real life. In my opinion, ay-bout is easier and I say it most of the time. I don’t see why ‘you don’t say it in real life’ should be a reason to not say it - it rolls of the tongue better, more people are used to it so I see no reason to not use it. No directive (that I’m aware of) has been issued from anywhere high up in the ACO regarding it.[/quote]Indeed.
In ‘real life’ you also don’t pause between the first and second syllables. Drill head on says that it’s easier and more natural to extend and vary the pitch when saying ‘ay’ than ‘ah’, which is probably why it’s the more common one.
As per the other answers above, I think that ‘who cares’ is probably the DS answer here.