this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
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I'm all about that NATO phonetic alphabet - which for some reason rubs certain people answering phones the wrong way.
Can't say I don't have a couple substitutions, though (Zebra instead of Zulu, Sam instead of Sierra, Frank instead of Foxtrot), but it's not like I'm working the radio of an aircraft or something.
The NATO phonetic alphabet does make some intersting choices. Sierra being particularly bad because over a poor quality radio it can sound a lot like "zero." the WWII American phonetic alphabet used "sugar." Able Baker indeed.
I once said Sierra and the guy wrote the letter C, because apparently he might be a physicist, but he was also an idiot
Maybe a fan of singer songwriter Ciara, with her song 1-2 step.
TBH "Sierra" is a pretty obscure word. I didn't know about it until the Mac OS release with that name. And given how often "c" makes an "s" sound, that sounds like a reasonable mistake to make if you've never heard the word before.
Sam and Frank are quite similar
Unrecognisable letter - a - m or n, very similar - unrecognisable could be both (say when it's loud and you're talking)
Sierra and Foxtrot are very different and that's what matters
Bam, Cam, Dam, Fam, Ham, Jam, Lam(b), Ma'am, Pam, Ram, W(h)am
Bank, Dank, Gank, Hank, Jank, Lank, Rank, Sank, Tank, Wank
Yeah.. not great options, those.
Whoa, Black Betty!
Bramble jam??
Understood, but these were selected based on what seems to work for your average customer service person/office worker. The amount of times I've said 'Sierra' and got back C is too many.
Might re-think Frank over Foxtrot, though. That's more habit than anything else.
Agreed in other contexts these are not the best choices, and there's a reason they are not that in the NATO phonetic alphabet.