Spelling with the Army Alphabet

Have you ever experienced trying to give your web address or email address over the phone?

If so, you understand the pitfalls of the English Alphabet when it comes to transmitting alphabet
information over a telephone line.

The problem is that many of the letters sound too much alike and are hard to distinguish from each
other.

For example, “B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V”, as well as “Z” in American English, all end with the "ee" sound. “F”
and “S” are also very confusing.

Now that's where the Army Alphabet comes in.

The Army figured out a long time ago that if you're going to transmit information about bombing
targets, you better be sure that you get that information right.

They had to devise a system to minimize errors.

They came up with a Phonetic Alphabet that would assign an easily distinguishable word to each
letter in the alphabet.

This made it possible to relay information over radios and telephones in a more efficient and
accurate manner.

Now why can't we apply this wonderful alphabet technology to the modern civilian world where
millions of people are having the daunting task of relaying web and email address information over
the phone lines?

They could be managing their back account, discussing their phone bill, or ordering the latest fancy
electronic gadget from an online web store, but in any case they still need to transfer alphabetic
information.

That information could be the billing or shipping address, model number or product code, or it could
be the most difficult of them all, the email address.

The Army Alphabet benefits society by making the transfer of information easier, faster, and more
accurate just like it did for the military.

In fact, I think it would be a good idea if everyone started printing little "Army Alphabet" charts and
sticking them to their computer monitors, so they could have it there for quick and easy reference.

I use it every time I go out for Fast Food and have to talk to that horrible drive-thru speaker system.

Just think what you could do with the Army Alphabet.

Vocabulary

pitfall: difficulty, risk they came up with an idea: they had an idea
relay: transmit accurate: precise, exact
fancy: luxurious, extravagant

The Army Alphabet

A Alpha J Juliet S Sierra

B Bravo K Kilo T Tango
C Charlie L Lima U Uniform
D Delta M Mike V Victor
E Echo N November W Whisky
F Foxtrot O Oscar X X Ray
G Golf P Papa Y Yankee
H Hotel Q Quebec Z Zulu
I India R Romeo

Also useful when spelling:

* star / asterisk [] square brackets
# hash ? question mark
/ slash or forward slash ! exclamation mark
\ backslash , comma
- hyphen : colon
‘ apostrophe ; semicolon
_ underscore . dot
( ) brackets @ at
Numbers: We can pronounce number cero "0" like the letter "o", when we are reading out numbers
figure by figure (e. g. telephone number, flight number, credit card number, etc.)

Spell the following flight numbers Spell the following email addresses

BA15032-JFK nick_hughes@aol.com

RYA490221/X m.smeed@esl.com

NECT-1012/W paul102@dot.com

TAM19836-P l_mike@ssff.com

LHF85736G/1 charly-bravo@golf.com