Air carrier captain reported unsafe communication between flight crew and ground crew.

Attributes
ACN	1665997
Time
Date	201907
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ONT.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 121 Flight Crew Total 12095 Flight Crew Type 8942
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

Narrative:

The push crew used nonstandard phraseology during entire pushback. Example: at start of push; 'we are ready'. I asked; 'ready for what?' there was no clearance to start engines. At end of push; push crew said 'we are done'. I had to ask what they meant... Set brakes? Disconnect headset? Besides guessing and having to clarify what they meant; the push crew's com was a hot mic with radio music; talking; engine noise; etc. In the background. Both the improper communication phraseology; and hot mic are serious threats to the pushback and need to be addressed.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported unsafe communication between flight crew and ground crew.

Narrative: The push crew used nonstandard phraseology during entire pushback. Example: At start of push; 'We are ready'. I asked; 'ready for what?' There was no clearance to start engines. At end of push; push crew said 'We are done'. I had to ask what they meant... set brakes? Disconnect headset? Besides guessing and having to clarify what they meant; the push crew's com was a hot mic with radio music; talking; engine noise; etc. in the background. Both the improper communication phraseology; and hot mic are serious threats to the pushback and need to be addressed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.