SOME CONFUSION OVER AIRWAYS CLRNC.

Narrative

DURING CLBOUT; WE RECEIVED A SERIES OF HDGS FOR TFC FROM SLC DEP CTL. THE LAST CLRNC WAS TURN TO '250 DEGS; CONTACT ZLC.' THE CTR CTLR GAVE US 'DIRECT BVL' WHICH WE DID; THAT ONLY REQUIRED A 5 DEG OR 10 DEG HDG CHANGE. WHILE FLYING TO BVL; IN RETROSPECT; I LIKELY DID A POOR JOB OF TRYING TO GET A CHANGE OF ROUTING WITH A REQUEST FOR OUR FILED FLT PLAN (J56 MVA) INSTEAD OF JUST REQUESTING 'DIRECT MVA.' WE WERE CLRED DIRECT MVA AND MADE THAT COURSE CHANGE. THAT CTLR ASKED ABOUT OUR CLRNC FROM DEP CTL. WE TOLD HIM WHAT IT WAS; AS HE SEEMED TO THINK THAT WE HAD BEEN CLRED 'ON COURSE' BY DEP CTL -- WE WERE NOT. ALSO; IN A FOLLOWING QUESTION FROM HIM; I THINK I RESPONDED INCORRECTLY WHEN HE ASKED ABOUT OUR 'CLRNC.' I WAS STILL TRYING TO PASS OUR REQUESTED RTE. AFTER A HDOF; THE SECOND CTR CTLR PASSED A MESSAGE TO US THAT WE HAD TURNED INCORRECTLY AWAY FROM OUR CLRED RTE. WE DOUBT THAT ALL TURNS WE MADE WERE IN DIRECT RESPONSE TO VERBAL ASSIGNMENT BY THESE (IN PARTICULAR THE FIRST 2) CTLRS. I DON'T THINK THERE WAS ANY DEV FROM ANY CLRNC; BUT THERE WAS CONFUSING COM THAT SEEMED TO INCLUDE THE CTLRS BTWN THEMSELVES; TOO. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTING FO HAD NEVER MET THE CAPT BEFORE THIS INCIDENT. HIS UNFAMILIARITY WITH THE CAPT HAD NO BEARING ON THE INCIDENT. THE RPT WAS WRITTEN TO HIGHLIGHT THAT THERE CAN BE COM PROBS WITHIN THE TRACON DEP CTLRS AND ARTCC CTLRS. THE COM PROB SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN THAT THE CTLR WAS TALKING ABOUT THE AIRWAYS CLRNC THAT THE RPTR HAD RECEIVED THROUGH ACARS ON THE GND AND THE RPTR WAS TALKING ABOUT THE LATEST AMENDED CLRNC RECEIVED WHILE AIRBORNE. THERE HAD BEEN SEVERAL MINOR CHANGES IN ROUTING AFTER DEP. THERE WERE NO CONFLICTS AND ONLY THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF HATE AND DISCONTENT. THE FO FLIES THE B-737-300 FOR A MAJOR UNITED STATES ACR ON DOMESTIC RTES.