X is X-ray??
And F is Foxtrot but not just Fox??
Am I the only that thinks this is crazy?
Not really, but it makes sense to me.
I learned the phonetic alphabet partly because of the fact that I obtained my amateur radio operator qualification. I’m a “ham” radio person.
Hearing these on the radio, which isn’t super clear to begin with in most cases, it’s much easier to use this way and almost trivial to understand others when they spell anything over the radio. Given this is the NATO alphabet, it’s used by all kinds of people, from ham operators like me, to government/military. Often in conjunction with some kind of communications system, often but not always radio communications, where the signal might be poor.
I think the original intent was to ensure that all letters sounded as unique as possible, so even if you only catch part of the word (maybe the rest is obfuscated by static), you still understand the what was said.
“Fox” could be confused with “box”, so it goes with “Foxtrot”.
Also, keep in mind that everything is a product of its time.
The only one I don’t like is Z is for Zulu. I’ve never heard of that word before and it could easily be mistaken for Hulu. Z should be changed to Zebra.
Zebra is much closer to Sierra and Papa, than Zulu is to any other word in that list - they are specifically chosen to be distinctly understandable in difficult-to-hear situations. And should they change it every time a new brand gets popular that’s kinda similar to one of the words?
Unfortunately that has overlap with Echo.
Ideally, these words are distinct even when most of the audio data is missing (as tends to happen with very bad connections/dropped packets). Worst case is only the “vocal” sounds coming through, as those are very common. Some people pronounce “zero” similarly to how “echo” is pronounced. “Zulu” has no such overlap.
Zebra is written with S in some languages, so it would potentially cause trouble.
Zulu could have been different, but has “no” (read:minimized) risk of being mistaken for hulu because hulu is not part of the phonetic alphabet. The phonetic alphabet is standardized because it must be, you can find rhymes for any one of these words. No list could be reasonably constructed that wouldn’t. Therefore the only reasonable choice is a standardized list that is designed to not self rhyme.
there are other versions that would be more suitable to the public….
Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, How, Item, Jig, King, Love, Mike, Nan, Oboe, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sugar, Tare, Uncle, Victor, William, X-ray, Yoke, Zebra.
Adam, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Edward, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, New York, Ocean, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sugar, Thomas, Union, Victor, William, X-Ray, Young, Zero.
….
any common words will word
the 2nd list isn’t great… Chicago and Sugar? N is two words, Mary and Henry are similar… I think part of the NATO one is you’d be able to tell even if you miss part of the word.
As a non-native speaker I’d have no idea how to pronounce or spell Jig, Oboe, Tare or Yoke
Jig - take the Ji from Jim and add a “g”
Oboe - oh bow
Tare - take the “T” from top and the “are” from share. Or more annoyingly, switch the P for T in “pear”.
Yoke - same as woke, poke, toke, joke but with a Y as the first sound. It’s also pronounced the same as yolk in most accents.
Oboe - oh bow
I worry this isn’t the most helpful guide even for someone who speaks English as a first language, is that bow as in bow, or bow?
Anal Colon Anal Butthole
E for egg isn’t even consistent throughout the English-speaking world. That vowel might be quite different in something like South African or Kiwi English compared to other dialects.
It doesn’t need to sound the same though, as long as the listener can spell ‘egg’.
