This probably isn't worthy of its own thread, but I couldn't find any thread for random observations... In the NATO phonetic alphabet, isn't "sierra" an astonishingly poor choice to stand in for the letter "S"? The first letter I think of when I hear the word "sierra" is, naturally, the letter "c." It requires a half-second mental adjustment to remind oneself that it stands for the letter "s." Really, wouldn't almost any other word that starts with "s" be a better choice than "c-erra"? It just really grinds my gears. Anyway, carry on.
My understanding of the phonetic alphabet is they used words that can't be homophones with other words (as in, what you hear is the only word it can be).
Now that it's solved I'm going to post one of my favorite videos somewhat related to this topic Spoiler: bad words
First of all, the call signs were invented by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, not NATO, for use by aircraft whose pilots speak languages beyond English. Even though the words are biased towards English, many of them are transferrable to other languages as well. In the case of Sierra, most pilots are not going to make the association with the letter 'C' because that is not how they pronounce that letter, in most cases.
Numbers, if you want to get more complicated, are also different. Here are the pronunciations One is wun Two is two Three is tree Four is fo-wer Five is fife Six and seven are normal Eight is different but sounds almost the same Nine is niner
Niner is useful because "nine" and "one" can indeed be confused with each other, but I don't see what practical purpose the others serve. In German you say "zwo" instead of "zwei" often even in colloquial speech because "zwei" and "drei" (three) rhyme.
Of all things in German, I remember the numbers. I can see why nine and one could be confusing for European allies or troops in our ranks. That and the word in German "Der Igel".
They got rid of the old NATO phonetic alphabet because it wasn’t any good anymore. Please use this new one instead. Thank you. A—alpha B—beta C—canoe D—Darth Vadar E—Amelia Earhart F—****ing football G—Goddamn it, Shirley, I told you never to call me here H—hi I—Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Meth J—Just Say No K—KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!! L—leprosy M—tuna melt N—taphophobia O—Ooh la la P—Peepee hahahahaha I said peepee Q—Quit telling me what to do with my life R—Rat bastard S—Silence of the Lambs T—Tiamat U—Unnapants V—Vinyl unnapants W—Wait, what X—Xavier’s School For Gifted Students Y—Why Z—Zealously guarding my virginity
My last name in Swedish has forced me to learn to spell the beginning of my name in the Swedish phonetic alphabet, not sure I know the complete one. It's also a sign of the times that Z nowadays is Zlatan.
