Have you ever had trouble conveying the spelling of your name, address, etc. over the telephone? In person?
Deb is a simple name, yet I've encountered miscommunications.
"Hi, my name is Deb."
Hi Bev.
"Ah no, it's Deb."
And when the exaggerated pronunciation fails - "It's Deb. D as in..."
Frantic brain scramble as I flounder around for an appropriate D word to use in the phonetic communications game. Frustrating. That all changed when I learned the phonetic alphabet. (Hee hee, does that sound like one of those satisfied customer testimonials or what?!)
I picked up the phonetic alphabet several years ago, while helping the cowpoke study for Search and Rescue, and I've never forgotten it. This could also come in handy in your writing if you have any scenes involving police, firefighters, etc.
The Phonetic Alphabet
A ALPHA
B BRAVO
C CHARLIE
D DELTA
E ECHO
F FOXTROT
G GOLF
H HOTEL
I INDIA
J JULIETT
K KILO
L LIMA (LEE-MAH)
M MIKE
N NOVEMBER
O OSCAR
P PAPA
Q QUEBEC
R ROMEO
S SIERRA
T TANGO
U UNIFORM
V VICTOR
W WHISKEY
X X-RAY
Y YANKEE
Z ZULU
I'm not sure how many versions of this exist or whether it can vary by country, etc. so you would want to do a little more research before utilizing it in a manuscript. I think this version came into being around 1886, another thing to check out before you use it.
Personally, I'm just happy to be able to say - My name is Deb. D as in delta, E as in echo, B as in bravo. So much cooler than; um, uh, let's see... D as in doornob...
What's your phonetic alphabet name? If you already know the alphabet, do you find it useful?
I have lived with people mispronouncing or not knowing how to pronounce my name ALL my life. As a result, all my kids have very traditional names. Aaarrrrgggg! I've had a set response for years explaining my name and telling people how to pronounce it. It's NOT Elizabeth! My only explanation for why I get called that so often is people read the "El" at the beginning and the "eth" at the end and ignore the middle.
ReplyDeleteEnd of rant.
I live in a place where parents are notorious for giving their children odd names, or just spelling normal names in unusual ways. I get people asking me how to spell my name, a lot.
ReplyDeleteAs for the alphabet, the phonetic alphabet, at least here in the States, refers to pronunciation of individual letters by the way they sound. There are specific symbols. (Think in the dictionary when they tell you how to say a word before its definition.)
But as for this radio alphabet, I think that while there might be slight variations from country to country I'm pretty sure that the majority of your list is used in the States.
My last name's butchered all the time pronunciation-wise. What really torques my wife's jaw is when people change her name ('Hi, I'm Christina'... 'Well, Christine, I'd like to see you...'). Normally when people have trouble w/ my name or there are multiples (in a group setting), I just have them call me J, though I'll respond pretty much to anything... I'm easy like that :)
ReplyDeleteOMG I do this too! My first name is really unusual, and my last name is a common word but not a common name, so I always have to spell everything. And it's sucky trying to think of stuff for every letter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the phonetic alphabet... I know most of these but the middle has always been kind of a muddle!
My last name is often mispronounced because it doesn't sounds the way the it looks. This will help.
ReplyDeleteI learned that when my hubby was in the Navy. He still uses it when he has to spell things. I slip back to what I heard my mom saying when I was little, "D as in dog" or "M as in Mary". Beyond that, I just go with whatever word hits me at the time, and people probably think I'm the most random person in the world.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good thing to have around. I am forever spelling my last name and trying to make the "f" not sound like an "s" especially over the phone when they can't read my lips. :)
ReplyDeleteSince you and I share a first name, I'm good to go here. Thanks! My last name, however, is unusual enough that no matter what tools I use to spell if for people, they often transpose or add letters anyway. It's weird.
ReplyDeleteSince everyone else in the free world spells Alissa with a "Y" my name is forever getting misspelled. I also have the problem that no one over the age of say 45 seems capable of getting my name right. And I don't mean reading it cold. I mean I say, "Hi, my name is Alissa" and in turn get called Alicia, Allison, Elise, Elizabeth. My former coworker, who I shared a phone with (and whose name was nice, ordinary Chris) was endlessly amused by the different things people called me.
ReplyDeleteElspeth- I love your name! My generation is/was infested with Deb's. (My mum named me after Debbie Reynolds if you can believe) It's interesting that people see the the first and last syllables... Lazy readers?
ReplyDeleteStephanie- We seem to have an insurgence of Celtic inspired names in our area. I am forever being corrected by my youngest regarding my spelling and yes, even the very gender to which I attribute the names of his classmates. Kaylan, Kaitlan, Keeley, Cally...
Bane- I'll have to look up the pronunciation of your last name now.. I thought I'd kenned the right of it, but I've been McWrong before... :D And my sincere appologies to your wife, I have upon many occasion muffed the Christine, Christina thing...
L.T.- What I would give to learn your unusual first name! :)
Paul- Now I'm wondering if I'm pronouncing it correctly!
Dawn- Whatever works for you is a good thing!
Linda- I hear you :D
Deb- We do what we can!
Alissa- I'm in the over 45 demographic, and I must confess that I sometimes have to check the spelling of your name before I comment. Extra points for honesty?!
Delta, Oscar, November, November, Alpha.
ReplyDeleteHole; as in "to dig a hole".
And no, my name is not Debbie, how did you get that?
Yes, I've had to resort to that sometimes.
My fisrt hubby was a communications tech in the Air Force, and he taught it to me way back when. I work in social services now, and have worked in supportive services for law enforcement, and they still use the same codes.
Awesome that you found and posted this. Way cool.
..........dhole
Kilo Alpha Tango - if I use just Kat! that' sounds easy - Kilo -huhn....!
ReplyDeleteANYway--I have a hard time on the phone - my brain just won't process things very well, so phone convos are difficult for me - which is why I love email! :)
If I'm congested and speak with someone over the phone, they hear Nancy instead of Angie. Which is odd.
ReplyDeleteSierra, uniform, sierra, alpha, November. Or I suppose it could be Lima, alpha, zulu, yankee. It depends on how you look at it. :)
ReplyDeleteHusband is in the military, so he's always using this...I, on the other hand, like to make up crazy words when spelling things over the phone...by the time I'm done, I've cried buckets.
ReplyDeleteHusband does have a sense of humor, though. He makes up very funny passwords. He set up his mom's computer and told her that her password was poofanny6. She made him change it, but we still laugh thinking of her having to tell somebody he password.
I think the phonetic alphabet has been pretty standard since WWII. Prior to that Commonwealth countries used a different set of letters.
ReplyDeleteB was Beer for example.
We are some of those who have inflicted unusual names on our three girls.
Our middle one hated her name because of it (I think she is growing into it at 19). Our baby loves her name, but then she likes being different full stop. Or is that period up there? :)
Al
Publish or Perish
I added your name to the "next stop" on the blog tour post today! I thought I had it on there and have no idea what I did - must have been from Monday's post and didn't put it on today's post! so I fixed that :)
ReplyDeletePeople always want to put an 'sh' at the begining of Chicoine, so we just spell it out, rather than pronounce it.
ReplyDeleteIt's too hard to learn some coded alphabet; easier to just let them butcher it...
That's a great little knowledge nugget to include in a short story or ms someday!
ReplyDeleteDonna- You've gotten Debbie!! It's amazing how far things can go astray from mouth to ear. Well, at least they got the first letter right lol
ReplyDeleteKat- Cat with a K! I prefer e-mail as well, gives me the opportunity to overthink before I speak :)
AngieM- That's interesting! I'm surprised to see all the far out ways that peoples names are interpreted.
Susan- You'll always be Lima Alpha Zulu Yankee to me :D
Anita- I'm lovin' poofanny6!!
Al- I think B for beer would be a huge hit up here! And you're right that would be period :)
Kat- Thanks but no worries, looking forward to your visit!!
Bridget- *raising hand* I thought it was 'sh'. Thanks for setting me straight. I wonder how many other names I have wrong in my head...
AngieL- Hope it comes in handy!
Deb, it does sound like 'sh', just not spelled like it sounds.
ReplyDeletesort of like shee-quawn'--the more french you get, the less you hear the 'n' at the end.
Bridget- Got it now! Basically I had the 'sh' and was butchering the rest :)
ReplyDelete