That doesn’t mean they’re stupid. If you say “V” over a phone or radio, it can be hard to tell if you said V or B. Likewise with M and N, and plenty of others.
The pneumonic phonetic alphabet (the real one, not this shitpost) disambiguates the sounds so there’s no confusion. People who don’t know pneumonic phonetic alphabet sometimes pick a random word or name to use for the same reason, i.e. “V as in vagabond”
If you’re spelling something pneumonically phonetically to someone who doesn’t know the pneumonic phonetic alphabet, it can be hard for them to catch the sounds they’re not used to. Especially if you don’t tell them what you’re doing before you start spelling, it can sound like you’re just throwing random words at them.
To illustrate the point, pick a language you don’t know, and ask someone who speaks that language to spell out a word in their alphabet. Or maybe find some videos online of spelling quizzes in other languages. Most of the letters probably begin with the same sounds they make. So if your theory is true, then if you aren’t stupid it should be easy to catch what they’re spelling. Not the case though.
I think they just meant that most people don’t pick up what you’re doing when you start rattling off nato phonetic words unless you prime them with “<letter> as in<word>”
Yeah I just rattle off actual phonetic alphabet elements when on the phone with anyone I have to give long alphanumeric strings to. Occasionally it throws people off until they understand what I’m doing, but usually it is clearly understood on the first try.
Honestly this doesn’t bother me half as bad as the ‘M as in’ part does. It should be
Mancy
Alpha
Romeo
Bravo
Lima
Echo
Not:
M as in Mancy
A as in Alpha
R as in Romeo
B as in Bravo
L as in Lima
E as in Echo
It’s a reference to Archer.
That’s the point. It’s saying you no longer have to do that. Because now you can just say
Mnemonic
Aisle
Row
Bravo
Lima
Eye
(Which is confusing as fuck, because this is a shitpost and not remotely accurate, for anyone who didn’t pick up on that)
True but also, people are stupid/ easily confused and have a lot of trouble figuring out what you mean unless you use the “As In” description.
Source : I both take and make a lot of support calls. I’d say about 1 in 5 or so people can handle the NATO alphabet at a normal speaking speed.
That doesn’t mean they’re stupid. If you say “V” over a phone or radio, it can be hard to tell if you said V or B. Likewise with M and N, and plenty of others.
The
pneumonicphonetic alphabet (the real one, not this shitpost) disambiguates the sounds so there’s no confusion. People who don’t knowpneumonicphonetic alphabet sometimes pick a random word or name to use for the same reason, i.e. “V as in vagabond”If you’re spelling something
pneumonicallyphonetically to someone who doesn’t know thepneumonicphonetic alphabet, it can be hard for them to catch the sounds they’re not used to. Especially if you don’t tell them what you’re doing before you start spelling, it can sound like you’re just throwing random words at them.To illustrate the point, pick a language you don’t know, and ask someone who speaks that language to spell out a word in their alphabet. Or maybe find some videos online of spelling quizzes in other languages. Most of the letters probably begin with the same sounds they make. So if your theory is true, then if you aren’t stupid it should be easy to catch what they’re spelling. Not the case though.
I think they just meant that most people don’t pick up what you’re doing when you start rattling off nato phonetic words unless you prime them with “<letter> as in<word>”
Yeah I just rattle off actual phonetic alphabet elements when on the phone with anyone I have to give long alphanumeric strings to. Occasionally it throws people off until they understand what I’m doing, but usually it is clearly understood on the first try.
We still quote this when doing crosswords etc.