# Is there a procedure word in any voice communication protocol for 'change of subject within a turn'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2019, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934 "2019-05-14T06:09:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934/1 "2019-05-14T06:09:19Z")
Voice (mostly: radio) communication protocols have a number of terms for metacommunication, e.g. ‘out’ for end of conversation, ‘over’ for end of turn, ‘say again’ to indicate the last turn has not been understood etc. What I notice in ordinary conversation is that we expect consecutive statements in a turn to be somehow related, and are confused when they are just intended to be consecutive “I got a decent pay rise today. We are low on toilet paper and I will go to the supermarket after dinner.” Is there any word/phrase used in an established protocol to indicate “the preceding and the following statement are not related”? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934/2 "2019-05-14T07:03:23Z")
The word you are looking for is “break”. List of Procedure Words: > **[Procedure word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedure_word)** > > Procedure words (abbreviated to prowords) are words or phrases limited to radio telephone procedure used to facilitate communication by conveying information in a condensed standard verbal format. Prowords are voice versions of the much older procedural signs for Morse code which were first developed in the 1860s for Morse telegraphy, and their meaning is identical. > The NATO communications manual ACP-125 contains the most formal and perhaps earliest modern (post-World War II) glossary of prowo... I got a decent pay rise today. Break. We are low on toilet paper and I will go to the supermarket after dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934/3 "2019-05-14T16:02:49Z")
Yup, “break break” is used by ATC when promptly switching to talk to a different aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934/4 "2019-05-14T16:09:27Z")
ETA: you hear it quite a bit in busy airspace, at least in the UK ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934/5 "2019-05-14T21:11:47Z")
In formal debate, they used to call it a “digression,” as in, “If I may digress.” The debater lost points if they digressed without announcing it first. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934/6 "2019-05-15T11:57:48Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Yup, “break break” is used by ATC when promptly switching to talk to a different aircraft. So ‚break break‘ means „The following addresses a different aircraft“ while ‚break‘ means „I am still talking to you, but the following is about an unrelated subject“? ---
**Author:** ![MonkeysBrother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@MonkeysBrother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeysBrother)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934/7 "2019-05-16T23:34:47Z")
I’ll admit I haven’t exercised the privileges of my pilot’s license for a few years. But in my experience, ATC just says “break.” And it always means they’re about to talk to another aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![SkyRangerRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@SkyRangerRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyRangerRich)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-procedure-word-in-any-voice-communication-protocol-for-change-of-subject-within-a-turn/833934/8 "2019-05-17T07:54:26Z")
I’m fairly current (30 hours so far this year on my PPL). “Break” would be used to address a different aircraft. As far as I know there’s no specific terminology for a change of subject to the same aircraft, other than “then” or “and”. E.g. “Golf India Echo, proceed taxiway bravo then hold at Charlie”. Or “Squawk 1234 and report downwind”.