There's a reason the phonetic alphabet exists

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 08/02/2017 at 16:23 • Filed to: None

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I couldn’t understand one of my customers the other day and she started spelling her name using a made-up phonetic alphabet. S as in Sam, P as in Pepper, I as in Inglish. Yeah, that didn’t help all that much, but thanks...

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:26

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I as in Inglish - HAHAHA

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:26

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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Your boy, BJR > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:28

7

Golf

Oscar

Fox-trot

Uniform

Charlie

Kilo

Yankee

Oscar

Uniform

Romeo

Sierra

Echo

Lima

Fox-trot

user314 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:30

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CB > Your boy, BJR 08/02/2017 at 16:30

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Golf

Oscar

Tango

Oscar

Foxtrot

Uniform

Charlie

Kilo

Alpha

Charlie

Alpha

Mike

Echo

Lima

CB > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:32

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“M” as in “Mancy”.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:33

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My dad does that for some incomprehensible reason, and I had a run with it last time I called for roadside assistance with the dispatch company. Drives me up the wall. Urge to start using the old radio alphabet (Able, Baker, etc.) starts rising.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:34

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Dude all the fucking time. I use it quite frequently working in parts and the people on the other end don’t get it that f & s are easily confused ETC. The best I have heard was a girl trying to tell my her vin Unicorn, Herb, and then whatever the numbers were. The phonetic alphabet is so easy to use and remember too.

The best was a lady who was a pilot we started talking shitabout people who did not know their phonetics, it was awesome.

Frank Grimes > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:39

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lima as in lima beans j as in julio

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:39

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Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 08/02/2017 at 16:41

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Precisely. I can usually deal with these kinds of alphabets, but adding misspelling into the unintelligible does not help the situation; in this case I started spelling her name S-P-E and couldn’t find her. I always feel a little bad when I can’t understand them, and this issue prolonged the situation.

I certainly don’t expect most people to know the NATO phonetic alphabet. I am more saddened by the fact that the American educational system has let this person down to such a degree that she can’t even spell the name of the language that she speaks.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:41

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Thanks for this picture, I have decided to print it. I always come up with the most outrageous words, which is fun. But I’ll sound more professional now.

fhrblig > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:42

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“Alpha Velveeta Knuckle Underwear, you are cleared for takeoff.”

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Your boy, BJR 08/02/2017 at 16:42

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Fox-trot, uniform, charlie, kilo.

Bloodhound gang.

For Sweden > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:44

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In more formal parlance, it’s C -> Charles

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs 08/02/2017 at 16:46

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As long as the word matches the letter you’re going for and it doesn’t sound like too many other words it should get the point across, as long as the words are spelled correctly. Lots of work went into defining the NATO alphabet, but it’s a somewhat esoteric thing. The key to the whole thing is getting that first letter of the word correct.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > For Sweden 08/02/2017 at 16:47

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In France do they pronounce that like ‘Sharl’?..

crowmolly > CB 08/02/2017 at 16:47

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Back when this show was funny...

MonkeePuzzle > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:48

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I got “b as in bee” once. took a while to figure out

another DAILY sad one. I manage a service desk where part of our email address is “BB” which is short of “Bulletin Board”, so you would assume if our team were trying to spell that out over the phone they would either say “BB, as in Bulletin Board”, or “BB, as in Bravo Bravo”. But NOOOOOOOOooooo, I hear DAILY!!! “that’s BB, as in Boy Boy”

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > fhrblig 08/02/2017 at 16:50

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To go along with ‘knuckle’, I’ll never forget Troy McClure starring in ‘P is for Psycho’...

Takuro Spirit > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:52

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I like to trip up people by using Xylophone for X.

Reading VINs at work can be fun!

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:52

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Meh:

T as in Tom

E as in Edward

S as in Sam

Rust and Dust - Oppositelock Forever > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:52

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My grandfather was a radio operator the majority of his life (commercial ships, shore to ship stations, repairing radio equipment for state gov’t departments, etc). A few months back at his funeral, my uncle told me a story that’s kind of fitting:

My grandfather was fired from exactly one job in his life. Seems he was trying out retirement some years ago after being at sea for the majority of his adult life, but was getting bored. A local radio station had an opening for a disc jockey, which was right up grandpa’s alley. He’d been a jazz drummer, loved jazz music, and knew radio operation and equipment front to back. He easily landed the job.

As my uncle told it, grandpa would knock back a couple beers, head down to the station, and play some jazz/swing/big band for a few hours. The station wasn’t really a jazz station, but they were OK with grandpa’s programming. The thing that got him, though, was having been a radio operator all his life. The station was in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. Every time grandpa would do the station call, he’d instinctively come out with “You’re listening to jazz with Jack, on WABI here in Dover-Foxtrot!” He could never get “Foxcroft” out, his radio operator training kicked in and it was “Dover-Foxtrot” every time!

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:52

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Yeah that last part is horrifying isn’t it?

I mean you can’t force people to learn or go to school....but wow. I’m also surprised she didn’t refer to it as “American” though.

My biggest complain about the current public schools is that there isn’t a “Life” class. In my mind it should include: How to do your taxes, steps to applying for and getting a mortgage, credit cards, the impact that interest rates have, and info on various insurances. Might not be a comprehensive list but that sounds like it would have been a whole lot more helpful than plenty of classes I took.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:53

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Yeah, and for it not to sound like it could be a number of letters, haha.

Sometimes it’s really hard to come up with those words on the fly too!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > fhrblig 08/02/2017 at 16:55

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Hot Shots for the win.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > MonkeePuzzle 08/02/2017 at 16:57

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My folks get their internet through their cable provider and use the email address that comes from the ISP. Dad always makes sure to spell out the domain name, C-O-X, instead of pronouncing it. I’m sure there are countless cases of those with dirty minds sending to a non-existent (or perhaps porn-specific) domain, all the while thinking that the recipient is some sort of pervert.

You would have thought that the company would have given this some thought before using such a domain name, regardless of how accurate it may be...

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:59

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Tango Charlie Kilo; Juliet Lima

Slant6 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 16:59

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I think police have their own phonetic alphabet, only makes things more confusing.

Svend > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 17:02

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NATO, international police, air traffic control, etc... use the same phonetic alphabet.

Yet U.S. police have their own.

The U.S. Navy had their own evolving phonetic alphabet before adopting the international standard.

user314 > crowmolly 08/02/2017 at 17:03

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I don’t know, Dreamland had some weak spots, but I enjoyed it. FXX is going through Season Four right now, and there’s some real stinkers there.  

crowmolly > user314 08/02/2017 at 17:05

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I liked a few episodes in 4. It just seems like it’s been kind of downhill. Can’t blame them, it’s a tall order to kick ass each year.

Cé hé sin > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 17:06

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Interestingly, phonetic letters in different languages are quite different, so....

A Anatole

B Berthe

C Célestin

D Désiré

E Eugène

F François

G Gaston

H Henri

I Irma

J Joseph

K Kléber

L Louis

M Marcel

N Nicolas

O Oscar

P Pierre

Q Quintal

R Raoul

S Suzanne

T Thérèse

U Ursule

V Victor

W William

X Xavier

Y Yvonne

Z Zoé

Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 17:12

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I can never remember the whole thing, though I use it everyday. Some of my substitutions include watermelon, helicopter, joker, zebra and peter. Somtimes I mix it up “ plate number reads 123 Gigolo, Juggalo, X-men.” I said that to a live person on the phone sunday.

MonkeePuzzle > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 17:15

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I once lost an argument on a similar premise.

I was 1000000% confident that hotmail would have also bought hotmale and simply redirected it so as to avoid any confusion from people saying “oh just get a hotmale account”.

so I, on a work computer, went to hotmale.com to prove my point

OH... OH!!!! OH THE POPUPS!

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Your boy, BJR 08/02/2017 at 17:18

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My apologies if my post came off as snarky, which, given your response, I assume that’s how it was interpreted - it certainly wasn’t meant to be. It was more of a commentary on the failure of the US educational system more than anything else, with the whole incident being just a little sad and disheartening. Try as I might to help my customers, sometimes I get thrown for a loop with situations like this, something that makes the interaction difficult and unrewarding for both of us.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 17:20

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Everyone here in Malaysia seems to be using their own take on the phonetic alphabet. Given the variety of accents around, even a standardized phonetic alphabet may not save you.

Honeybunchesofgoats > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 17:23

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S as in Sam is pretty though, especially in comparison with Sierra.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer 08/02/2017 at 17:25

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Watermelon, helicopter and zebra actually work quite well as substitutes since there are few words, if any, in English that sound like those, and that’s the whole point of a phonetic alphabet; on that note, why isn’t orange used for ‘o’ since that word has no known rhyming match? I know that, despite years of military and commercial aviation experience, I too sometimes forget a proper word here and there. I was quite surprised when I forgot the one for ‘M’, which is the same as my best friend’s name as well as my middle name...

XJDano > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 17:31

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A long time ago I had to explain to a coworker that @hotmail.com is not @hotmale.com and it was for email not a dating website.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Krieger (@FSKrieger22) 08/02/2017 at 17:32

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I had a call like that today from a person with a terrible lisp, with her father in the background for assistance. I’m glad to see that she is doing her best to try to do things on her own instead of relying on others to communicate for her, and I’ll do whatever I can to assist. When she was trying to spell her name it came out as ‘T as in Tepper’ and it took me a few seconds to get what she was trying to say. Thankfully I only need the first two or three letters of the first and last names to track someone down, but sometimes getting that first letter can be a challenge, especially when it gets noisy in the office.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > XJDano 08/02/2017 at 17:39

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Some favorites. They’re oldies, so my apologies if you’ve already seen these:

http://www.speedofart.com “Speedo Fart” or “Speed Of Art” ?

http://www.expertsexchange.com “Expert Sex Change” or “Experts Exchange” ? Some experts!

http://www.cummingfirst.com “Cumming First” or “Cumming First United Methodist Church” ?

http://www.penisland.net “Penis Land” or “Pen Island” ?

http://www.whorepresents.com “Whore Presents” or “Who represents” ?

http://www.gotahoe.com “Got A Hoe” or “Go Tahoe” ?

http://www.therapistfinder.com “The Rapist Finder” or “Therapist Finder” ?

http://www.molestationnursery.com “Molestation Nursery” or Mole Station Nursery ?

http://ipanywhere.com “I Pee Anywhere” or “IP number for anyhwere” ?

http://www.powergenitalia.com “Power Genitalia” or “Power Generators of Italy” ?

And of course, from the great Arrested Development:

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 17:43

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Under_Score > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 18:10

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Ingland is my city.

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 19:07

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Alpha Velveeta Knuckle Underwear, you are cleared for takeoff.

ranwhenparked > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 19:51

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Did he use “M” as in “Mancy”?

TheRealBicycleBuck > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/02/2017 at 22:58

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I have to deal with this all the time. It doesn’t help that my name is filled with letters that are hard to distinguish, especially over the phone.

Even so, most of the population hasn’t been in the military, so the phonetic alphabet is just as confusing as using more common words as substitutes.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/03/2017 at 07:19

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i just use random words

Arrivederci > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/03/2017 at 08:28

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Our help desk used to be offshore, and I’d have to routinely call to have tickets put in for servers that were acting up. When servers have completely random names like clt-vmidxprd01, the only way to get that across via phone was the printed copy of the phonetic alphabet stuck to my cube wall.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 08/03/2017 at 08:58

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Yeah we do :)