Call me slow. I didn’t realise until reading the paper on Monday that SIEV is an acronym. (As in SIEV-X.)
It’s authorities jargon, and stands for “Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel” — the one involved in last week’s fatal fire being SIEV 36.
Categories
SIEV
6 replies on “SIEV”
And by using such a bland acronym, nobody can get attached to SIEV-36. Whereas as soon as you call it the ‘My Fair Lady’ or whatever the boats name was, it becomes personal.
Those governments are so clever!
Well, yes, the last thing we’d want is people feeling some empathy.
Mind you, I wonder if these boats even have real names in the first place.
I dont think your the only one – until a few weeks ago, I thought it was the actual name of the boat!
Snap! I also had the same realisation with the same article. Don’t know why I didn’t pick it up before. And I’m a reference librarian … should bow my head in shame.
Well, I think I knew SIEV was an acronym, but I’d always assumed the X was supposed to be 10. Did they give up on the roman numerals after that? Or was SIEV-X outside the numbering system?
What’s wrong with SIEV-XXXVI?
The X is outside the numbering system; the Wikipedia article says it was coined by a journalist.