Pulled Pitch

An interesting article at Slate about taking your leave from a gathering, focusing on the terms we use to depart from that gathering.

Just ghost.

Ghosting—aka the Irish goodbye, the French exit, and any number of other vaguely ethnophobic terms—refers to leaving a social gathering without saying your farewells. One moment you’re at the bar, or the house party, or the Sunday morning wedding brunch. The next moment you’re gone. In the manner of a ghost. “Where’d he go?” your friends might wonder. But—and this is key—they probably won’t even notice that you’ve left.

The author goes on to describe the various ethnophobic  terms we use to describe such behavior, and I would propose that we mustn't be ethnophopic.  We can use terms from our military that take no liberties with heritage.  For example:

Pull Pitch.  When a helicopter pilot is doing his thing and decides to depart, he pulls on the collective, increasing the pitch of the blades, lifting the helicopter from the ground.  He departs.  Usage: "Where's Danny?  I think he pulled pitch."

Wheels Up.  Another aviation term.  Early in every flight, after departing the runway, the wheels become extraneous.  In retractable aircraft, the astute pilot will raise the wheels to decrease drag.  Usage:  "Where's Julia?  I believe she went wheels-up."

Saddle Up.  Equestrian reference, when one wishes to depart an area, it's wise to put a saddle on the horse.  Usage:  "Where's Lisa?  She saddled-up about twenty minutes ago."

Beamed Up:  A classic Star-Trek reference:  Usage: "Where's Tom?  He had to beam-up.".

These are four references that came to me in seconds.  I'm sure my vast readership has others.