Use the NATO phonetic alphabet or make up your own?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

You know the situation - you need to spell out something like a license plate or someone’s name, etc for clarity.

Do you use the official NATO phonetic alphabet (A=Alpha, B=Bravo, C=Charlie, etc) used by the military and air traffic controllers?

Or do you just use random words that start with the letters in question (K=Kangaroo, L=Louis, M=Mancy, etc)

2

Well, once I used extremely non-standard words… I was on the phone forEVer with an officious woman who made me repeat every little thing. Then I said “NMK”. I enunciated it well, and was exasperated when I was asked *“NMK?” *“Yes, NMK.” “Can you spelllll that?”

“N as in Nice, M as in mnemonic, K as in knife.”

“All right, and next…”

3

Well, once I used extremely non-standard words… I was on the phone forEVer with an officious woman who made me repeat every little thing. Then I said “NMK”. I enunciated it well, and was exasperated when I was asked *“NMK?” *“Yes, NMK.” “Can you spelllll that?”

“N as in Nice, M as in mnemonic, K as in knife.”

“All right, and next…”

4

Well, once I used extremely non-standard words… I was on the phone forEVer with an officious woman who made me repeat every little thing. Then I said “NMK”. I enunciated it well, and was exasperated when I was asked *“NMK?” *“Yes, NMK.” “Can you spelllll that?”

“N as in Nice, M as in mnemonic, K as in knife.”

“All right, and next…”

5

I can never remember the NATO phonetic alphabet so I usually make it up on the fly. Usually common English names.

6

If I can remember the NATO word for the letter I need, I’ll use that. If I can remember the official NATO one right away then I’ll use a random word.

7

I use random words. I was never a member of NATO.

8

NATO usually. To tell the truth, it’s probably more a hash of old systems mixed in with the current one. I say “Able” rather than “Alfa,” for example. “Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot” but also “Fox, Mike, Delta.”

I am large, I contain multitudes.

9

My pilot training really imprinted the aviation version thoroughly in my brain.

But sometimes I use “A as in Adam, B as in Bob…” for situations where I don’t want to have to explain words like “Lima” and “Quebec”.

10

I used to work for Off-Track Betting and the horses were designated by letters, so we had to avoid confusion. We had our own.set of letters and I still use it.

11

That’s PEST.

P as in Pneumonia
E as in Euphonious
S as in Sea
T as in Tsunami

12

I got used to using the NATO alphabet when I used to have to do radio check-in from remote field sites when I was with the New Zealand Wildlife Service. I will generally still use it, although sometimes I’ll forget one of the standard words and make one up.

Sometimes when I’m on the phone in Spanish I need to spell things out, and then I usually used Spanish names or words.

13

Former military, NATO only.

14

Stolen shamelessly from somewhere:
A: Aisle
B: Bravo
C: Cue
D: Double-U
E: Eye
F: Four
G: Gnat
H: Honor
I: Ian
J: Jalapeno
K: Knight
L: Lima
M: Mnemonic
N: Nine
O: Ouija
P: Phrase
Q: Queue
R: Row
S: Sea
T: Tsunami
U: Urge
V: View
W: Why
X: Xylophone
Y: You
Z: Zena

15

I learned NATO phonetics when I got into low power, long distance amateur radio (QRP DX). With my very low powered signal, I’d often have to repeat my call several times. Hams also use alternate phonetics:

Police around here use a different set more centered around common English first names:

I use NATO phonetics all the time on the phone at work since I frequently talk to people in noisy environments, poor connection or with heavy accents.

16

I use words with silent or odd first letters.

Pneumonia
Xerox
Aether
Chutzpa

17

I can’t help but be reminded of this scene from Monk: https://youtu.be/rIgJtLrq8Ns

18

I’ve known an international standard one for maybe 40 years, so I just use that. They are mostly the same and people understand whether you say Zebra or Zulu.

19

Pretty much this.

20

Being a student pilot, I’ve learned the NATO radio alphabet, which is the international standard in aviation. Also used by the military.

Note that there is a different standard commonly used by American law enforcement, as mentioned by jnglmassiv several posts above.

I had occasion to spell my name to a police dispatcher a few months ago. When I said:

she asked me if I had been in the military because I had some of the words “wrong”. :smack:

Note, by the way, the correct usage is NOT:
"S as in Sierra, E as in Echo, N as in November, E as is Echo, . . . "

but simply:
“Sierra Echo November Echo . . .”