The naval term “Senior Officer Present Afloat,” i.e. the Admiral, is abbreviated SOPA.
On dropping the hook in Hong Kong harbor, I wrote a memo for the Command Duty Officers regarding what to do if there was an injury or serious illness among the crew and I was unavailable, probably because I was pub-crawling in Kowloon.
I wrote the phrase, “be sure to inform SOAP of any use of shore side medical facilities.”
All my messages and such were proof-read by the Executive Officer, because he was my Department Head, as well as my Division Officer. He read that and then asked, “Doc, don’t you have spell check on your computer?” pointing to SOAP. “It should be spelled SOPA.”
It being very late at night, and feeling a bit “froggy” I said, “But, XO, SOAP is spelled right.”
The XO lost if, and either started crying, or laughing. I couldn’t tell for sure, while beating a hasty retreat.
As has been said elsewhere, that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.