• RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Not sure about why people are surprised by this alphabet. It’s been in use for quite some time in its current form. I work in aviation and we always use this for radio communications. Obviously the military does too.

    • Maalus@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I personally hate it when I say the nato alphabet equivallent and somebody just gets confused. Like “what do you mean alpha, is that what I need to type?”. Or worse yet, they start using names and end up with the joke from Archer - “M as in Mancy” or other nondescript names for letters.

      • Leviathan@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        For the layperson you have to do the “[letter] as in [phonetic alphabet equivalent]” format. Most people will understandably get confused if they ask how to spell your name and you tell them “Alpha-November-Delta-Yankee”. If they’re not used to it or never heard it it’ll sound like you just started having a stroke.

        • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          I guess i watched a bunch of war movies as a kid; because as an adult mid 20s somebody on the phone spelled out their software code using phonetic alphabet, it took me a split second to process the unexpected, but then knew it was the first letter from osmosis i guess

        • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          My problem is that I absolutely blank when coming up with words to use, even if it’s my own damn name. At least this gives me a standard set to work with.

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          3 months ago

          I’ll often just say sound-alike letters phonetically but other letters spelled out for brevity. “A-R-N as in Nancy-O-L-D as in Delta”

        • BigPotato@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I’ve tried that before but I get back to NATO accidentally. A as in Apple, I as in India, R as in… Uh… Romeo.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Tbf most people never have reason to use it so they don’t know it. Or they just think the words are random after watching a cop drama or comedy where a word is spelled out over a radio. Also there seems to be an independent police phonetic called then “LAPD” alphabet, but I can’t tell if it’s intended to be serious or just mostly lifted from movies and tv.