# Is there a spelling alphabet for numbers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851 "2012-02-05T11:25:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/1 "2012-02-05T11:25:15Z")
Occasionally cell phones make numbers difficult to hear correctly over the phone, and while there are ways around this like texting, IMs, or email, it might be quicker to just replace a number with a multisyllabic word so there can be less chance of a random blip in the service completely obscuring the number. (I know that nine=niner, but that’s just one out of ten digits!) ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/2 "2012-02-05T13:05:53Z")
Sort of. In the Army, we were taught when using numbers on the radio to pronounce them in this manner: Wun Two Tree Fower Fife Six Seven Eight Niner Zero ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/3 "2012-02-05T13:50:32Z")
There is a spelling alphabet known as the [PGP word list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGP_word_list), which is used in the computing domain to unambiguously read out sequences of numbers in the range 0 to 255. It hasn’t seen widespread adoption, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/4 "2012-02-06T07:54:59Z")
In English, the names of the digits are pretty clearly different, so that understanding them isn’t too hard. For military use, only a couple are changed: 4 is stretched into nearly 2 syllables, rhyming with power. 9 adds an R sound at the end: niner. And 0 is said as zero, never “oh”. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/5 "2012-02-06T13:00:28Z")
I was taught the same version that **Jman** describes over here in Oz. I don’t know how official it was, but it was used by hams and pilots. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/6 "2012-02-06T13:16:52Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > There is a spelling alphabet known as the [PGP word list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGP_word_list), which is used in the computing domain to unambiguously read out sequences of numbers in the range 0 to 255. It hasn’t seen widespread adoption, though. I wonder why. It’s so intuitive and elegant. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/7 "2012-02-06T13:42:14Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I wonder why. It’s so intuitive and elegant. Needs more cowbell (3F) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/8 "2012-02-06T14:24:33Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > In English, the names of the digits are pretty clearly different, so that understanding them isn’t too hard. Ditto in German, with the exception of the names for two (_zwei_) and three (_drei_). These get mixed up on the phone often enough that people usually substitute _zwo_ for _zwei_. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/9 "2012-02-06T14:25:53Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I wonder why. It’s so intuitive and elegant. Well, it is pretty elegant, since a linguist designed it such that the words used have as little phonetic resemblance to each other as possible. Intuitive it isn’t, but that wasn’t one of the design criteria. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/10 "2012-02-07T07:29:03Z")
Can’t you just spell out the digits? Even if the individual letters get blocked, there should be enough left to guess the number e.g. s\*\*n is seven. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/11 "2012-02-07T11:21:31Z")
The link **psychonaut** provides above for the PGP word list includes, at the bottom, a link to the [NATO phonetic alphabet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet) - which includes the set of words that **Jman** describes. So I think we can assume that it is indeed a standard form. ---
**Author:** ![\_cc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e19b73/32.png) [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/12 "2012-02-08T10:06:43Z")
There’s always the first 9 of the 12 Days of Christmas… for zero you’re on your own I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-spelling-alphabet-for-numbers/611851/13 "2012-02-08T11:36:29Z")
> [@'\[cc](#): > > ;14751943’]There’s always the first 9 of the 12 Days of Christmas.. for zero you’re on your own I guess. You could use the tenth day, as long as it’s clear you’re just reading out digits – (zero) lords a-leaping. Or how about “a bare pear tree”? Good system 🙂