# Phonetic Alphabet question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2025, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768 "2025-09-05T03:31:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/21 "2025-09-15T03:30:14Z")
I was taught “fife” as well. Monosyllabic, so that there would be no confusion with “fi-er”. You never want anything to be confused with firing orders. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/22 "2025-09-15T08:13:52Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I love those ‘pronunciation aids’ sheets. Some were pretty funny. I remember “pa-PA” They really pronounce papa as “pa-PA”? I can’t imagine the average US military dude or dudette pronouncing it that way. I’ve always heard it as “PA-pa” but that’s just from movies, TV, YouTube, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/23 "2025-09-15T19:40:20Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > You never want anything to be confused with firing orders. You’re…no longer employed here! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/24 "2025-09-15T21:53:25Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > You never want anything to be confused with firing orders. Also why they say “say again” instead of “repeat”, because “repeat” can mean “That artillery barrage was exactly on target; keep firing just like that”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/25 "2025-09-15T21:56:55Z")
“Pete and Sayagain went for a boat ride…” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/26 "2025-09-15T22:02:17Z")
For those interested in this sort of thing, see > **[Procedure word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedure_word)** > > Procedure words (abbreviated to prowords) are words or phrases limited to radiotelephony procedure used to facilitate communication by conveying information in a condensed standard verbal format. Prowords are voice versions of the much older procedural signs for Morse code which were first developed in the 1860s for Morse telegraphy, and their meaning is identical. > The NATO communications manual ACP-125 contains the most formal and perhaps earliest modern (post-World War II) glossary of prowor... ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/27 "2025-09-15T22:04:20Z")
And for droids, the binary equivalent is > **[Transmission Control Protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_Control_Protocol)** > > The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the main protocols of the Internet protocol suite. It originated in the initial network implementation in which it complemented the Internet Protocol (IP). Therefore, the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP. TCP provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of a stream of octets (bytes) between applications running on hosts communicating via an IP network. Major internet applications such as the World Wide Web, email, remote ... ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/28 "2025-09-15T22:24:27Z")
I often had to communicate with healthcare admin people, and soon discovered that the NATO alphabet only confused them further. I just accepted that phone calls, along with the delays for the “if this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 911,” the offer of Spanish, “please listen carefully as our menu options have changed,” etc. would by necessity include exchanges [such as this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ar79EC2I90) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/29 "2025-09-15T22:41:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Also why they say “say again” instead of “repeat”, because “repeat” can mean “That artillery barrage was exactly on target; keep firing just like that”. Exactly this. “Repeat” is an artillery fire command. The call for fire can simply be, “Repeat, over.” To which the FDC would reply, “Repeat, out.” And you’d soon have rounds going downrange. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768/30 "2025-09-16T00:03:26Z")
But it is not keep firing just like that, It is fire one more salvo at the same spot as the last one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phonetic-alphabet-question/1022768.md?page=1)