Have you ever had those moments when talking to call center representatives of a utility company or a bank over the phone, and found yourself wanting for words for a letter of the alphabet while trying to spell something out? I know I have. So I decided that enough was enough, and began to re-learn the letters of the English alphabet. Only this time, it'd be the words as they are used for radio communications. Its called the 'Phonetic Alphabet'. It is ofcourse used primarily by the armed forces, law enforcement officers, pilots, ham radio operators, and others who have to communicate using radios.
The entire Phonetic Alphabet is listed further below (if you go through the list, at the bottom of this post you'll find a very amusing, may be even cerebral, snippet I promise), but a comprehensive list of the alphabet from almost a century ago and the words that have changed over time, can be seen here. An interesting fact that pops out upon going through this list - of the 26 words in the Phonetic Alphabet, only two have remained unchanged for almost hundred years - M (Mike) and X(X-ray). Another good list of the Phonetic Alphabet used by a few different agencies and countries (all of them have occupied parts of the world beyond their own at one time or another!) of the world is here.
If it were up to me, I'll teach all the kids this alternate alphabet. Enough with 'A for Apple', 'B for Boy', and 'C for Cat' already. To me, it makes a lot of sense to teach kids the alphabet with words that are used in the Phonetic Alphabet. Less training for kids who go on to become soldiers or pilots or law enforcement officers for they'll already be aware of the entire Phonetic Alphabet, less training for kids who go on to become call center employees around the world (I've already imagined a scenario where the entire world is one big call center - more on that some other day), and fewer hassles for customers (all of us are customers, isn't it?) who need to call those 1-800 numbers. Moreover, it is just more fun. I know, I know, if the kids don't know the letters of the alphabet, how will they be able to learn the Phonetic Alphabet? Will need to work on that.
May be its just the engineer in me, but while I was learning the Phonetic Alphabet, I just had to take the leap to learning the Morse Code! I am still working on it. It'll take a little bit of time to get used to to teaching myself to think in terms of dashes and dots, or dah, di and dits. Here is one for those of you who text a lot, and use the stupid shorthand (yeah, there, I said it - I don't like it) all the time:
1. LOL translates to .-.. --- .-..
2. ROFL translates to .-. --- ..-. .-..
3. ROFLMAO translates to .-. --- ..-. .-.. -- .- ---
And, for those of you who think I shouldn't mind all the shorthand used in text messages, my message to you is: -.-- --- ..- / -.-. .- -. / --. --- / - --- / .... . .-.. .-.. --..-- / .- -. -.. / -... . ..-. --- .-. . / .-.. . .- ...- .. -. --. --..-- / -.- .. ... ... / -- -.-- / .... .- .. .-. -.-- / -... .-. --- .-- -. / .- ... ... .-.-.-
A for Alpha
B for Bravo
C for Charlie
D for Delta
E for Echo
F for Foxtrot
G for Golf
H for Hotel
I for India
J for Juliet
K for Kilo
L for Lima
M for Mike
N for November
O for Oscar
P for Papa
Q for Quebec
R for Romeo
S for Sierra
T for Tango
U for Uniform
V for Victor
W for Whiskey
X for X-ray
Y for Yankee
Z for Zulu
Ok. Here is the promised snippet. Ever wondered if one can compile a list of Silent Phonetic Alphabet? Well, I hadn't either. But I sure am glad that someone had. The following is blatantly taken from this webpage here.
A as in BREAD
B as in DEBT
C as in INDICTMENT
D as in HANDKERCHIEF
E as in GIVE
F as in HALFPENNY
G as in GNAW
H as in HOUR
I as in FRIEND
J as in MARIJUANA
K as in KNOW
L as in CALM
M as the first M in MNEMONIC
N as in AUTUMN
O as in PEOPLE
P as in PSALM
Q as in COLQUHOUN (a Scottish surname)
R as in FORECASTLE
S as in ISLAND
T as in CASTLE
U as in GUARD
V as in MILNGAVIE (a Scottish place name)
W as in WRONG
X as in SIOUX
Y as in PEPYS
Z as in RENDEZVOUS
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