[ASK] How do you use a word to prounce a letter?

Use any easily understood one-syllable word
Welcome to A2K!

You can use any easily understood one-syllable word that you believe the other person will have no trouble in knowing what you mean.

For example, the name is Krazinsky: K - Kelly, R - Robert, A - Alice, Z- Zebra, I - Ink, N - Never, S - Sam, K - Kelly, Y - Yellow. The list could be endless. If the person has a problem with one of your choices, try to think of another word that they might easily understand.

I_ear_n --- I - Ink, one lining dash without spaces before and after it, e - ellen, a - alice, r - robert, one lining dash without spaces before and after it, n - never.

If there is a particular name you wish spelled out in this form, get back to us here. Good luck! -- Charli :-)[/color]

Charli, you have incorrectly labelled an underscore as a dash. That is an important distinction in email and internet messaging!

LINING dash
In the publishing and printing industries, we call it a "LINING dash." We don't refer to it as an underscore unless it underscores something. Yes, probably in typing it's an "underscore" - even when it's not underscoring anything. Good point though: Speak to your audience. Remember that they may not be in the publishing or printing industry. (I'll try, I'll try!) :-) :-) :-)

The US military uses the Phonetic Alphabet. It helps for radio and telephone communications.

Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X Ray
Yankee
Zulu

Not just the US military, Infrablue. Other NATO countries and civilian Air Traffic Control worldwide use the same alphabet, and I find it being used more and more in telephone calls here in the UK when spelling names is required. And why not? It has been carefully researched to be clearly understandable even when reception is not perfect.

You beat me to it, was just about to reply with the phonetic alphabet too. We made up a ridiculous story to help us remember is 'I played Golf at a Hotel in India, met Juliet, she weighed a Kilo and owned a Lemur (yes I know, but it sounds the same)...' etc etc. All good fun.

Once when I was trying to understand a person's name, struggling because he mumbled, he finally yelled, "It's Smith, lady, Smith!" At least when he yelled, his pronunciation improved...

If only people would be kind enough to use the phonetic alphabet, millions of people could do their jobs more efficiently.

NATO Phonetic Alphabet
A - Alpha K - Kilo U - Uniform 0 - Zero
B - Bravo L - Lima V - Victor 1 - Wun (One)
C - Charlie M - Mike W - Whiskey 2 - Two
D - Delta N - November X - X-ray 3 - Tree (Three)
E - Echo O - Oscar Y - Yankee 4 - Fower (Four)
F - Foxtrot P - Papa Z - Zulu 5 - Fife (Five)
G - Golf Q - Quebec 6 - Six
H - Hotel R - Romeo . - decimal (point) 7 - Seven
I - India S - Sierra . - (full) stop 8 - Ait (Eight)
J - Juliet T - Tango 9 - Niner (Nine)
en français


Why? Well, let's face it.. there's no dignity in saying "Dog Yeti Nutcase Apple Mother Otter Otter" on the telephone.

Why NATO? The NATO Phonetic Alphabet was developed in the 1950s to be intelligible (and pronounceable) to all NATO allies in the heat of battle. It replaced other phonetic alphabets, for example the US military "able baker" alphabet.

So it's the standard? The NATO Phonetic Alphabet is now widely used in business and telecommunications in Europe and North America. There are dozens of other standards in use throughout the world, but then the great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.

Quiet night in? You too can pretend to be a police dispatcher - Hotel Alpha Victor Echo Foxtrot Uniform November!

One of the Unpalatable Facts of Life is that some clerks are more intelligent and come with more acute hearing than other clerks.

Both my first names and last names can be spelled in several different ways.

When I run out of patience and understanding, I start using my own phonetic alphabetic:

"P" as in "preposterous"
"I" as in "individual"
"E" as in "exasperated"

Some clerks have better sense of humor than other clerks.

I got a good laugh Noddy, thanks

hi, dude, could u share with us your full story? i am quite interested in it. thanks a lot!

Actually, I always use first names to spell names/places etc.

N as in Nancy
G as in George
B as in Bob
and so on - luckily I have no "U" or "Z" in my name

In rare cases, when the asking person is mentally quite challenging, I use animal names

G as in Goose
M as in Monkey and so on....

Um, lemme see if I can remember it. We could all do up to Echo, so it starts after that.

We danced the Foxtrot, played Golf at a Hotel in India and met Juliet. She weighed a Kilo and owned a Lemur (Lima). Met Mike in November, Oscar was his Papa in Quebec. Romeo owned a ford Sierra; we danced the Tango in our Uniforms. Victor drank too much Whisky, fell down the stairs, broke his ankle and had to have an X-ray.

Then something about Yankees and the Zulus, but its escaped me. Crazy story but it's helped me remember it!