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@SlavTiger

14 күн бұрын

thanks for this info, ii have added this alphabet to my emergency radio manual for reference.

@RubyDoobieScoo

14 күн бұрын

Was the other part brought to us by Coca Cola?

@Mike-zx1kx

14 күн бұрын

Now what has "Ø" for Øresund and "Æ" for Ægir done to be left out?

@UnclePengy

13 күн бұрын

And you didn't even delve into regional phonetic alphabets such as the famous APCO (aka LAPD) radio alphabet, which I believe is still in use today, and which is the alphabet I learned growing up thanks to the famous TV series Adam-12 and Dragnet. (But then I became a Ham, and now I know two.) Well, maybe you can do a sequel.

@wamlartmuse17

13 күн бұрын

Joe momma!

Lol we had a really smart dog that would lose his mind when we even spelled walk. Tried whiskey-alpha-lima-kilo for a while. He caught on to that, too 😂

@jmr

15 күн бұрын

I'm not sure if my dog knows how walk and ride are spelled or if he just recognizes that we are spelling but either way he knows. 😂

@PeterSwinkels

15 күн бұрын

Same with a dog my parents used to own. 🤣

@Marcus-ki1en

14 күн бұрын

Our Greyhound not only learned W-A-L-K spelling but K-L-A-W, and we thought we were so smart. We tried spelling nonsense words to see if she was hitting on the spelling only, but she would only get excited when we spelled that word.

@semi-automaticchickennugge6417

14 күн бұрын

dogs probably correlate the sounds of the letters as similar to sounds of words so as long as they hear a certain group of sounds they assume it means the same thing every time

@siliconwolverine

14 күн бұрын

My morkie knows the same but it’s “outside” and “treat”

You don't realize how important this stuff is until you're a dispatcher dealing with active crime scenes, or people's lives hanging in the balance. It's wild stuff, when you need it most.

@mycroft_moriarty

14 күн бұрын

It's even weirder when you're the only person on the line who uses it...

@SlavTiger

14 күн бұрын

or if war breaks out

@tremorsfan

14 күн бұрын

We used to use it when I worked at Dulles. So many letters sound the same.

@PaulHarris-sl1ct

14 күн бұрын

I have noticed that most law enforcement use names like "A as in Adam" I personally prefer "T as in Oolong"

@jodyfulford8215

13 күн бұрын

​@@PaulHarris-sl1ct Or perhaps T as in Earl Grey.

Following an air traffic control career, one of the great annoyances has been customer service types on the phone using nons-standard phonetics to spell things out. The pain is real.

@alexdryver5090

13 күн бұрын

I learned NATO phonetic as a truck driver. If your job involves strings of letters and numbers being spoken you should know NATO phonetic. It's easier to understand and more professional then "B as in boy".

@uchinanchuu58

13 күн бұрын

Same here except I'm still in ATC...

@ryanjohnson628

13 күн бұрын

YES!! Along with the whole wasted words of “B as in boy…”

@gullinvarg

12 күн бұрын

I had the NATO alphabet taped to my monitor when I worked on an IT help desk. I figured there was already a perfectly good phonetic alphabet that existed so why try to come up with my own? 😉

@conradhershberger9359

12 күн бұрын

@@gullinvarg I memorized it when I did a year of IT phone support. That was 15 years ago, and I still use it.

US Army vet here, 78-90. Was the RTO for my company commander and using the phonetic alphabet was second nature. Still use it today when I have to spell something out over the phone. LoL.. Cheers from Tennessee

@smithandshortdogs

15 күн бұрын

USAF... filled army ILO spots for a decade (04-12) was an RTO as well, but knew the alphabet before that because 2t1s have to learn it in tech school (That is 88m and AIT for you ground pounders).

@jeffdroog

15 күн бұрын

Regular person here,and I also know this alphabet,because it was taught to me in kindergarten lol You don't have to wear camouflage to figure this out lol

@jimmym3352

15 күн бұрын

one of the first things we learned in boot camp in the Navy. Something you'll use over sound powered phones all the time. Though certain letters are used more than others.

@innobius4898

15 күн бұрын

Worst thing is when you instinctively use the NATO phonetics alphabet and a civilian says "hang on I can't write that fast" Oh God now I have to explain what a phonetic alphabet is.

@jeffdroog

15 күн бұрын

@jimmym3352 Navy flex! Eh-oh! I like how we apparently have all these manly vets just sitting around all day waiting to brag about how they used to be something lol Good job!

Yes, and after having been a civilian for nearly 30 years, when I hear people in my office spelling items phonetically using non-nato words, and even using different words for the same letter in the SAME interaction ... I developed a twich. Once when a person got it right, I cheered and bought them lunch.

Two of the nurses on the TV series MASH were called Nurse Able and Nurse Baker.

@DoIGetTube

10 күн бұрын

In more modern times, those same two would have been called Nurses Alpha and Bravo respectively.

US Navy vet. 05-13. Still use the phonetic alphabet. Wicked useful.

@randalmayeux8880

14 күн бұрын

What part of Boston are you from?

@samking7213

14 күн бұрын

I'm an Australian Army Vet. Same years, 05 to 13

@eddarby469

13 күн бұрын

Army NG still use it from the 80s.

@jammiebooker6489

12 күн бұрын

Bravo Zulu

@blindbrad4719

6 күн бұрын

I've used it to stay awake driving. Spelling things out with it including the phonetic spelling alphabet both forwards and backwards 😂

I work in the aviation industry and I did not expect to learn anything new about the NATO phonetic alphabet when I clicked on this video. I never realized that alfa and Juliett have different spelling than a native English speaker would expect. Very interesting history of the various standards!

@jeffweber8244

12 күн бұрын

I occasionally need to use them verbally myself. But I'm not sure when I'd ever write them down to note their spelling.

@jamiekirkland2474

12 күн бұрын

@@jeffweber8244 I learned the alphabet decades ago at 10 years old (because I was a weird kid) and I don't think I have seen the alphabet written out since.

@bite-sizedshorts9635

10 күн бұрын

It's not NATO invented. They just adopted it in 1956, but it was in use already for many decades.

About 10 years ago I had my first job doing customer service at a call center, and I ended up unironically using this system because the modern phone connections are still crap. It felt a bit weird at first to use some of the more unconventional words but they are definitely distinct enough to never be mixed up with anything else. Fast forward to today, when I speak to customer service of whatever god forsaken cable company that I need to speak to, I do the same on my end to avoid confusion. On top of helping with bad phone connections, it also helps the numerous customer service reps who don't speak English as their first language.

@UtilityCurve

14 күн бұрын

Apparently, the current service standards for fidelity/intelligibility are much lower for cellular telephony than mid-20th Century wired lines. A fair number of us remember the long-distance (and it is only a number of us who grok the concept of "long-distance" itself) carrier Sprint and its famous pin-dropping. No free lunch.

@dragonhealer7588

14 күн бұрын

​@@UtilityCurve TANSTAAFL 😊

@rhaedas9085

14 күн бұрын

@@UtilityCurve My dislike for cellular phone conversation happened sometime in the early 2000s when analog got quickly replaced with the more modern digital encoding. The human ear can fill in gaps in a message with some static, but the cutout that digital has when data is lost is terrible. Same issue with video, as a kid I remember still managing to watch a badly tuned channel on the TV, unlike a digital signal that gets blocky.

@michaelsommers2356

14 күн бұрын

I find myself confusing an improperly pronounced QUEBEC with the letter K.

@kah10161

13 күн бұрын

Amen to that! Definitely came in handy for open gas accounts in the Midwest.

As a mechanic, I use a phenonic alphabet to read Vin numbers to get parts when I was a firefighter. We used Phenonic alphabet for radio communication

@jeffdroog

15 күн бұрын

You were a mechanic,or a firefighter? Get your lies straight lol

@Perry2186

15 күн бұрын

@jeffdroog 20year mechanics 11years volunteer firefighter

@jeffdroog

15 күн бұрын

@@Perry2186 I'm a little shocked neither of those jobs,or the years apparently required to do them,ever required you to write a coherent sentence lol

@Perry2186

15 күн бұрын

@jeffdroog talk to text doesn't work great with a southern accent. Also, I was driving proof reading wasn't a priority

@richiehoyt8487

14 күн бұрын

​@@jeffdroog Always reassuring to see the Internet Police out and about and keeping busy.

This entire video was just a troll to get Simon to say "monkey nuts" in a video, right? Good one. Always neat to see the beginnings of something that is so ubiquitous.

@ridesq

14 күн бұрын

London Monkey Nuts.

@marklittle8805

5 күн бұрын

Most of the videos he has to say something silly ...his writers entrap him all the time

Yes making up my own phoenetic alphabet out of frustration while on the phone.

@highpath4776

14 күн бұрын

Hay for Horses, Beef or Dinner, See for yourself, Dee for Kate, Effort ,

@jimmyzhao2673

14 күн бұрын

Brandon at Talladega, the crowd chanting.

@Jessepigman69

14 күн бұрын

D for dave o for....... August...... wait that's not an o..... "Sir it is OK, calm down"

@jamesonmiller8283

12 күн бұрын

Yes of course: P as in Pterodactyl, S as in Sea, A as in Aye, E as in Eye, L as in Llama, M as in Mnemonic, C as in Cay, K as in Knight

@danreyn

12 күн бұрын

"No my name is Carry, not Terri. That's C as in Crane, A as in Avery, R's like Railroad, and Y like Yike. No! Not Terri. How are you not getting this!?"

I learned the NATO alphabet as a teenager when I got my ham radio license. Still use it today working in the airline industry, and anytime I need to spell something over the phone.

@geoffpriestley7310

13 күн бұрын

I Wonder if he'll do the q codes next

@bite-sizedshorts9635

10 күн бұрын

Not NATO. It's military and invented way before NATO.

I worked in tech support, over the phone of course, and I learned and used this because a lot of people I talked to could already communicate with it. It made my life a lot easier.

Amateur (HAM) radio operator here. This is second nature for me. Still used today in the Amateur Service.

@TubeLVT

10 күн бұрын

The term “ham”is not an acronym. It should not be written in all capitals.

@SomeYouTubeGuy

5 күн бұрын

I work in an IT call centre and it frustrates me to no end that the NATO alphabet isn't taught or enforced by management.

So great that know the history of the phonetic alphabet. I married a naval aviator in 1969. During our very short engagement realized my being able to learn not learning the phonetic alphabet would be a game changer. We have been married for 54 years!

@danlabok7117

14 күн бұрын

🎉congratulations🎉 54 year's is amazing nowadays!

@ChristophBrinkmann

14 күн бұрын

​@@danlabok7117 54 years is amazing in any era (unless the marriage has one or two abusive people.)

@jackturner214

13 күн бұрын

Mazel Tov! My wife also caught on to the phonetic alphabet pretty quickly when she married this former airdale (though I was no longer in the Navy); one of the things that made me smile the biggest was a couple of months into our marriage when she referred to her sneakers as "go fasters." We'll have been married 21 years on next Saturday, provided she keeps me that long 😁 Fly Navy!

@csjrogerson2377

13 күн бұрын

Bravo Zulu.

@bite-sizedshorts9635

10 күн бұрын

Except he was lying about it originating with NATO. It was in use from the beginning of radio in the US.

I know the phonetic one better than the normal one. I get to like G then forget which letter's next, but know the phonetic ones instantly.

@Watty7878

15 күн бұрын

Gerp

@pieterboelen2862

14 күн бұрын

"Normal one"? What's the normal one?

@chitlitlah

14 күн бұрын

@@pieterboelen2862 I think he means the normal alphabet. Somehow he didn't learn his ABCs when he was a kid.

I used to work in tech/customer support over the phone and ended up, in fact, print out a copy of the NATO alphabet to have a reference when I had to spell things out over the phone as opposed to trying to come up with words on the fly. It was hung on my cubicle wall & co-workers ended up asking me about it and adopting the practice as well.

@bite-sizedshorts9635

10 күн бұрын

It's not NATO. It's military. It was used way before NATO started.

@pogue972

10 күн бұрын

@@bite-sizedshorts9635 Tell it to the people who made the video bro

One of the few channels on KZread that teaches me new words. I now know what acrophonic means. (An alphabet when the words of the letters begin with the letter). Thank you Simon.

When I was stationed in Japan, all the bar maids in the bars near the front gate of the base spoke English so we would spell out words using the phonetic alphabet. "Interrogative Yankee Echo November" meant "how many yen do you have". Obviously not something that we wanted the bar maids to know.

@Drew-bc7zj

13 күн бұрын

But how did you answer without them knowing? Start blurting out numbers and of course they'll be thinking money, right?

@pithicus52

13 күн бұрын

@@Drew-bc7zj Just gave general values. "Lots, not much, etc." No, definitely did not give numbers because that would have meant pulling out our wallets and did not want to expose the contents of our wallets if at all possible.

@Drew-bc7zj

12 күн бұрын

@@pithicus52 Afraid they'd have an accomplice rob you, or was it scams perpetrated on customers, like overcharging or watering down drinks?

@pithicus52

12 күн бұрын

@@Drew-bc7zj The bar maids were only served from a special bottle of "whiskey" that the customers were never served from. And yes it was expensive.

@Drew-bc7zj

11 күн бұрын

@@pithicus52 Were you forced to buy them drinks? It's not like there was a chance they were going home with you.

Bravo Zulu. You did a video on the phonetic alphabet without making it a complete Charlie Foxtrot.

@benn454

14 күн бұрын

Coulda been a real SNAFU. That would've been really FUBAR.

@cycoholic

14 күн бұрын

​@@benn454Then he would have had to bohica. 😂

@benn454

13 күн бұрын

@@cycoholic The Green Weenie comes for us all.

I was taught this as a kid and it’s second nature for me to use it when spelling things out over the phone.

Look at this. Lovely video edit. No vignette, no old film filter, nothing to distract from the simple transfer of the information of the story. Unlike another of Simons channels. An actual pro editor here ... nice.

I transcribe body-worn camera audio. In one traffic stop for DUI the driver was asked to recite the alphabet. He rattled off a phonetic version.

@pretzelhunt

14 күн бұрын

failed anyway tho

@carolann811

14 күн бұрын

@@pretzelhunt Well, yeah, he was arrested. He said it correctly though. I was both impressed and annoyed b/c it took far longer to type Alpha, Bravo, Charlie than it did A, B, C.

@josekentucky86

14 күн бұрын

I've done that myself ​@@carolann811

@cycoholic

14 күн бұрын

That sounds like an interesting job.

@agentwashingtub9167

13 күн бұрын

How many videos have you deleted for your friends?

ok the person who did that title needs a raise

The singular purpose of the phonetic alphabet is clarity. With more than half the consonants in the English-version alphabet sounding just like the Vowel "E", a shakey, staticky radio connection across a very loud situation where men are screaming, shouting, cursing, and crying, pronouncing each letter as a name or word guarantees more than one shot to determine the word. If I gear "--ee," it could be anything. If I hear, "--ko", or, "---elta," or, "--ango," I know exactly what was said: echo, delta, tango, "E", "D", "T", respectively. That's it. No need to watch now..... Except for the joy of watching Simon work. And it was a joy. I have finished it now, and I had not considered the international aspect. Well done, Simon! Thank you for a well-presented video.

I once told a French person over the phone "J" like Jalapeno... 🤦‍♀️ We've had a lot of good laughs over that one 😂

@julioguardado

14 күн бұрын

I used to work for a French guy. He seemed to think the J in Julio was silent. 😁

Joemomma nice little Easter egg

@James_Wotring

13 күн бұрын

I was looking for someone else who noticed!

@ginbei711

13 күн бұрын

​@@James_Wotring me too 😂

@oalfodr

12 күн бұрын

It was Easter in my part of the world around the time you wrote your comment

@nunyabidness674

12 күн бұрын

@@oalfodr Your part of the world is 3 weeks behind everyone else?

@oalfodr

12 күн бұрын

@@nunyabidness674 Yup. Church here follows Julian calendar

Armed forces, aviation industry - yeh. But also the police, ambulance service, fire service and (my own industry) the railways. Any industry where clear, unambiguous communication is vital? You will find the NATO phonetic alphabet being used. We dont use 'Foo-er', 'Fife' or 'Niner', but we do follow the protocol of verbalising individual numbers and letters. In the UK, each train operating over Network Rail infrastructure has a designated 'headcode' (like a flight number) that is formed of a number, a letter and two further nunbers. The first number indicates the priority of the service (e.g. 1 = express passenger train; 2 = local or stopping passenger train. 5 = a passenger train out of service . . . I.e. empty coaching stock). The letter indicates the route the train is running on - whilst the final two numbers identify the train. For example - 1A37 might be a train from Glasgow to Aberdeen. The '1' designates it as an express passenger train The 'A' as a train from the Scottish central belt, bound for Aberdeen The '3' and '7' tell you exactly which train that day is heading to Aberdeen. The train and hour earlier in the same route might have been '1A35', the train an hour behind '1A39'. Lets keep with '1A37'. Any communication between the driver, conductor, signaller or network control regarding this train would have '1A37' read and spoken as 'One Alpha Three Seven'. Likewise: 1B07 would be verbalised as 'One Bravo Zero Seven'

@SteelWolf13

13 күн бұрын

Except civillian services use the names. Adam Baker charlie. Eww....

@skyhawk_4526

12 күн бұрын

@@SteelWolf13 In California: Adam, Boy, Charles, David, Edward, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, Nora, Ocean, Paul, Queen, Robert, Sam, Tom, Union, Victor, William, X-ray, Yellow, Zebra.

@bpomowe224

11 күн бұрын

Adam, Bertil, Caesar, David, Erik, Filip, Gustav, Helge, Ivar, Johan, Kalle, Ludvig, Martin, Niklas, Olof, Petter, Qvintus, Rudolf, Sigurd, Tore, Urban, Viktor, Wilhelm, Xerxes, Yngve, Zäta, Åke, Ärlig, Östen.

lol .. (6:04) "Monkey Nuts" .. (yes, I have a 8yr old's sense of humor!)

I can remember my father using this alphabet in the late 1950's. I didn't realise it was so new. I had to memorise it in 1963 to do school over the radio.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a delightful comedy movie memoir of the life of imbedded reporters in Afghanistan.

@randomobserver8168

14 күн бұрын

One of the elements of the NATO alphabet that did make it out into gen pop for a while there. The filmmakers obviously assumed by then it was understood to mean WTF by enough people to buy tickets. Also, fun movie. People I knew thought it captured the civilian expat life in Kabul in those days reasonably well. At least for the media and a few other groups.

I had a guy get nervous reading off a license plate to me once, and he hit X, and said 'Xylophone'. that got quite a few laughs later.

@Lightning613

13 күн бұрын

Personally, had a difficult time translating the real (NATO) alphabet to the local police alphabet.

@peterbennett8567

13 күн бұрын

I asked someone who was using random words what she'd use for Z - she immediately said "Xylophone"! (well, it does sound llike it should start with a Z)

@CujoHyer

13 күн бұрын

@@peterbennett8567 Cracks me up that word would ever pop in somene's head for that purpose.

@nlwilson4892

12 күн бұрын

That isn't as funny as my staff sergeant spelling out the registration of the van we were using and when he said "uniform" me thinking "I'm sure there wasn't a u", I checked, he was trying to indicate "y". I didn't correct, not my place :)

@raindancer6111

11 күн бұрын

As an old biddy I would say that xylophone does spring to mind for X. When I was very young I had an alphabet puzzle with A for apple and a picture and so on. X was illustrated with a xylophone. It did give my nursery teacher a bit of a surprise when I came out with that one in class.

"King Philip Caught One Fish Going South" will always be the way that I remember Kindom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

@bigolbearthejammydodger6527

12 күн бұрын

kp crisps only fry good spuds was ours. and lets not forget Naughty elephants squirt water either ;)

@redheadmetalhead247

12 күн бұрын

Kings Park Cars On Fresh Gold Streets

@Debbie338

12 күн бұрын

That’s excellent!

@slackerman9758

12 күн бұрын

Knave Pterodactyl Czars Oil Fjord Gnat Symbols

@bruceanderson9003

12 күн бұрын

King Phillip Called Out For Good Soup

This is phenomenal. I teach the NATO alphabet numerous times a year - and have done some research into various earlier English forms (there are SO MANY and each language has its own as well!). This deep research and chronological report is very welcome. I will definitely be recommending it to people who want more in depth background information as to the evolution of the (eventual) NATO alphabet.

Who decided to put "joemama" in the thumbnail?

@freedomforever6718

15 күн бұрын

Joemamma did.

@weaselcon

14 күн бұрын

Dadum dum dum tshhh!

@musicalaviator

14 күн бұрын

Your Mother did.

@TodayIFoundOut

14 күн бұрын

Producer extraordinaire and longtime basement dweller Sam. :-) -Daven

@FavioredValkyrie

14 күн бұрын

Joemomma did.

Thanks for this! As an ex-signaller from the Australian Army Reserve, this is seared into my brain. Fascinating to learn how it came about.

Genius title! 😂

Fantastically researched and presented. Zero fluff and highly informative. Well done and thank you!

I have watched many of your shows, but this one really stood out for me... I recently started learning the phonetic alphabet, as many of my friends are military and use it a lot... It is not so easy to pick up, but your explanation of its history and how it came to be the way it is now makes a lot more sense!

Oscar Mike Golf! What an odd topic.

thank you Simon I was in the United States Navy and always wondered how they got these letters and used the specific terms for a different things 1:07 so today I learned what I should have known 20 years ago lol😊🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💯ogbb

@wendybrenner2614

15 күн бұрын

1st

@TheScandoman

15 күн бұрын

YES! You totally SHOULD have learned it 20 years ago! ...even if it wasn't a requirement of your rating.

@bite-sizedshorts9635

10 күн бұрын

NATO had nothing to do with it.

@TheScandoman

10 күн бұрын

@@bite-sizedshorts9635 Yes, it was in use before NATO.

Thanks so much for creating and sharing this informative video. Great job. Keep it up.

I made extensive revisions to the Wikipedia articles on this topic years ago, so you’re probably using a bunch of my work and research. But I learned a few new things that even I didn’t know, so color me extremely impressed!

I've warned you once TIFO.... Don't be talkin bout my momma!!

Interesting deep dive. I’m an amateur radio operator and the NATO standard alphabet is what we use. 73, Kilo Kilo 7 November Whiskey Uniform.

As am amateur radio traffic handler, I've always used the current NATO phonetics, although some in the late 60s used the Able Baker version. It's so engrained in me that when somebody says 'Nancy' for 'N' instead of November, or 'Ida' for 'I' instead of India, I have a slight brain glitch; kinda like when somebody tells you their phone number and instead of the 3-digit, 3-digit, 4-digit cadence, they do something else. Great video on the history of phonetics, although I had to pause mid-way so as not to 'plant a seed' in my mind to use other words.

@DanielHallmark

10 күн бұрын

Thr one that kills me is when operators use "kilowatt" to convey the letter 'k' instead of the prescribed "kilo." My mind immediately wants to transcribe KW instead of K.

When I worked in a call center, my all time favourite was a customer who said “Q for cucumber” 😂🙈 My response “I can see where you’re going with that, but, no.”

@TakaAmun

13 күн бұрын

As a 911 Operator, my similar but troublesome experience with a caller that I couldn't understand if he was saying S or F, so I asked several times 'F like Foxtrot, or S like Sierra?" He'd say something I didn't understand, so I tried again 'F like Frank, or S like Sam?', again some strange word that just wasn't registering with me with me. Finally I tell him that I am not understanding at all, is it 'F like Fast or S like Slow' (I may have added a touch of sarcasm on the Slow) - and he starts yelling and repeating, over and over until it finally clicks: 'F like coFFee'... 😳

i see what you did there with the thumbnail

Thank you. I was familiar with the old military phonetic alphabet and the NATO phonetic alphabet, but had no idea why the specific words used were chosen.

I used to work for a motor breakdown company and we were taught this in training. It was such a blessed relief when a customer knew it too.

Knight for K is just mad 😆😆

Still use it all the time when I interact with people on the phone and they or I need to communicate spelling of a word or letters in a serial number.

This was awesome Simon! I'm interested in languages so that made this video of particular interest to me.

Really enjoyed this video! Thanks for all the excellent work on it! ❤🤘

Yeah, I kinda drooled at 10:24 when you showed a graphic of an IBM-122 key keyboard. Ohhh, clicky clicky click click.

@bite-sizedshorts9635

10 күн бұрын

Lenovo makes one that has full travel keys that can be a good stand-in for you. And it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. That's what I'm using right now. I've worn the spacebar shiny smooth.

@frakturfreak

9 күн бұрын

There is a company called Unicomp that bought the machinery and technology off of IBM and produces new buckling spring keyboards to this day.

@likebot.

9 күн бұрын

@@frakturfreak Oh good. I have 2 of them and could use a few spare parts. And I'd like to convert one of them to USB. I jockeyed an AS/400 and their sequels for 30 years and these keyboards are more comfy than my favorite equally vintage jeans.

Still to this day i use the Phonetic Alphabet if i want to make clear what i am saying over the phone. One of the great things i learned from my time in the military

@jeffdroog

15 күн бұрын

I learned this alphabet in kindergarten lol You went way above the call of the duty to learn this lol Fail.

@SgtSupaman

14 күн бұрын

@@jeffdroog , don't worry, we can tell from your replies that you've never done anything significant with your life. You don't have to keep repeating it.

If you want to upset a police officer, tell them to Foxtrot Oscar.

So cool. I remember years ago trying to learn this alphabet because I was having to deal with telephone business a lot. I brought it up at a class, and this older lady said she had it memorized because of her years as a telephone operator. Really interesting to learn of the different word-alphabets.

LOL I knew R was Romeo, but I didn't know J was Juliet. Cute.

@peterbennett8567

13 күн бұрын

I test people's knowledge of the phonetic alphabet (for a Canadian Radio Operator certificate) and sometimes give Romeo as a clue for Juliett (or vice versa) when the student gets stuck - but that only works with people of the right culture (or age?)

When I was in the NSW Ambulance, it was occasionally used, but they weren't strict on it. But being a gamer and into military movies and computer game, I was already fairky familiar with it. I still remember one time I needed more info on the patient we were picking up, and there was no way I could pronounce the foriegn (to me) name of the individual. Fortunately it was fairly short and used one letter twice. I remembered most of the letters, but I did have to double check myself so checked quickly online. I rehearsed it in my head a few times, picked up the handset and when it was appropriate, I spelled out the last name in the standard Nato phonetic alphabet. Fairly smoothly too. My mate who was driving, snapped his head in my direction and said something along the lines of "look at Mr Fancy Pants. 😂

I haven't needed to transmit vital info that way in decades, and it's still etched into my brain...or my Bravo-Romeo-Alpha-India-November...

Charlie Oscar Oscar Lima!

Did he say "llama" instead of "Lima"?

@chronic_payne5669

15 күн бұрын

How did you catch that?

@edbangor9163

15 күн бұрын

USN 2013-17. I spent 12 weeks at OCS, where reciting the phonetic alphabet perfectly while doing burpees for an hour straight was a typical morning.

@Annoyachu

15 күн бұрын

Glad I wasn't the only squid to hear it!

@edbangor9163

15 күн бұрын

@@Annoyachu hooyah, brother

It makes the letters easier to understand over the radio when a bad connection can make understanding difficult and have serious consequences

It may not be a big seller, but I would love to buy a (high quality) tee-shirt from your store with the presented NATO alphabet printed on it. (Also, just now added my Patreon support-keep up the great work!)

Used this Working for a bus company in Australia 20 years ago Absolutely hotel alpha romeo delta listening to this

@skyhawk_4526

12 күн бұрын

Tango Mike India. 😆

Llama?

@kevtheis

15 күн бұрын

No.

@smithandshortdogs

14 күн бұрын

@@kevtheis listen carefully 0:03...

In a telephone conversation in a previous employment, I once inquired of the person on the other end of the line by asking, "D as in Delta?" She replied, "No, D as in Dog." 🤨

I learned the NATO/ITU alphabet when I became an amateur radio operator in 1999. It was seared into my brain during Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day events, when I would handle upwards of 80 contacts each hour while working our club radio setup in a literal field each year. We always had a very popular station during the event, as our call is W4CQ (W4 is a regional identifier, while CQ is common radio slang for "station calling").

My last name includes an S. Every time I'm asked to spell it on the phone, I add "S as in Sam" by default.

"Ack ack" is not an example of phonetic alphabet; it is a corrupted version of the German 88, as in the 88mm anti aircraft gun. Acht acht.

@tobi...398

15 күн бұрын

And "ack ack ack" is a quote from Mars attack

@JamesDavy2009

14 күн бұрын

@@tobi...398 Martians predicted the opening date of the Beijing Olympic Games?

@DeliveryMcGee

14 күн бұрын

Why not both?

@stevechopping3021

14 күн бұрын

That's Flak as in Fliegerabwehrkanone Ack Ack is differently British

@inisipisTV

14 күн бұрын

​@@stevechopping3021 "Acht" German for 8. As in the popular 88 mm Flack gun.

Had to learn this really quickly after the Quick Assist update last year.

Phonetic alphabet should just be normal in day to day life, it makes a world of difference in pharmacy

@wbrennan2253

14 күн бұрын

Yes. Insurance help desk operators sometimes work from home. Or are not native English speakers. Or bad phone connections.

Did I just get joe mamma'd?

It's so ridiculously useful for phone conversations. I'm in the medical field and use it all the time. I wish more of my colleagues did... it's painful and time consuming when they struggle to come up with words for letters

Thanks to Gilles Messier for his usual excellent writing! And cheers for the injection of Canadian history. Watching here from Calgary!

Saw Charlie wear a new Uniform last November for Tango dancing.......... Later he did the Foxtrot in same Uniform but it looked like Charlie lost some Kilos from all that dancing. Later he told the story of being at the Sierra Hotel in India and Tango danced there.

When I was a boy scout we studied for Morse code a list of 26 (French) words where O would be - and any other vowel would be a • A was Allô •- B was Bonaparte -••• C was Coca-Cola -•-• N was Noël -• ... It was quite easy to remember. Less confusing than long and short syllables.

I *love* the phonetic alphabet! It's so hugely useful! On a similar theme, Simon, maybe you can do a video on *police codes* - the codes that police use to indicate a particular crime or incident. The origin of those would be interesting!

@skyhawk_4526

12 күн бұрын

Police codes vary tremendously depending on the agency using them. So does the phonetic alphabet they use. For example, in California, the phonetic alphabet used by CHP and local police is: "Adam, Boy, Charles, David, Edward, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, Nora, Ocean, Paul, Queen, Robert, Sam, Tom, Union, Victor, William, X-ray, Yellow, Zebra." On the other hand, the FBI, military and all federal law enforcement agencies use the NATO/ICAO phonetic alphabet of: "Alpha, Bravo, Carlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu." Prior to civilian law enforcement, I was in law enforcement in the US Air Force. We used completely different codes in the Air Force than I currently use in civilian law enforcement. A humorous example of this difference is that "Code 6" in the Air Force meant "I need a bathroom break." On the other hand, "Code 6" in civilian law enforcement (in California, at least) means "I need backup." This caused quite some confusion and frustration among the local sheriff's deputies that used to scan our base's radio frequency. They'd hear one of the Air Force gate guards ask for a "Code 6" (actually meaning the guard needed to use the restroom) and think the guard was asking for backup because that's what a "Code 6" meant at their agency. As far as police codes used to describe crimes, these are usually taken from the state Penal Code or Vehicle Code. They again vary by state. In California, a robbery might be dispatched as a "two-eleven in progress." This is because in California, robbery is defined in section 211 of the Penal Code. The same would be true of getting dispatched to a "possible twenty-three-one-fifty-two driver." This means a possible drunk driver because the crime of driving under the influence in California is section 23152 of the Vehicle Code. I hope that explains some things and also kind of shows how it would basically be impossible for Simon to cover all of this in a video, since every single state and country has its own unique codes.

I just like hearing Simon say, "Monkey Nuts." 😂😂

I was a casualty clerk for the 19th Combat Engineer Battalion (1970). Took many casualty reports over the radio. Like much Army training, the phonetic alphabet sticks with you. It's interesting that the Los Angeles Police Department apparently uses another phonetic alphabet, based on what you see on TV.

6:04 "London monkey nuts" sounds like a great alternative for an expletive when there are sensitive ears around. 🤣

Whiskey Oscar whiskey! Holy phonetic alphabet Batman, very informative and very in-depth view of the evolution of phonetic alphabets!

Dave.. he's one cool cat man! I'm addicted to his scripts, sorry Danny and kevin and the rest of the team🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💯😎

@THE-X-Force

15 күн бұрын

Sir .. step away from the emojis

Had to learn this in the early 90s when I worked as a BT 100 and 999 operator. Came in super useful when I transitioned into Road Haulage. Now I work in an industry that is related to both Aviation and Road Transport so use it probably 10 times an hour. We have also spent a lot of time during slow periods trying to make our own - a profane one, one where the words either make no sense or are ridiculously long (g for gnome, A for antidisestablishmentariansim etc), currently working on a Tudor Courtiers version.

when I used to do a lot of IT phone support, I taped the Nato alphabet to the side of my monitor until I learned it. It was immensely helpful

When I worked for Xerox for a few years, a number of my coworkers were ex-Navy pilots. We did a lot of networking and they used the NATO alphabet to spell out serial numbers and MAC addresses. I've never been in the military, but I still use it all the time.

I've been staring at the can of Coke Zero all the time as I listened to Simon.

Anyone else giggle every time he said, "London, Monkey, Nuts"?

In engineering, we were told that with the phone system, there was only a 50% comprehension of individual words, it is the context of the sentence that allows us to understand the conversations hence many people will develop a headache after a long telephone conversation. This was because the bandwidth filtered for each conversation was selected based on where most of the energy was but more recent studies showed that it was more the higher frequencies that determined what the word was hence the traditional bandwidth range actually muted much of the information. It was those studies that prompted telecommunications companies such as MCI to start advertising that on their services, you could hear a pin drop. Modern phone systems aren't just the traditional bandpass filters of the early analog systems to stack nultiple conversations together. Note, you used to also hear the occasional other communications on the old analog systems which were basically conversations heterodyned to a multiple of the frequency your conversation was mixed to...

i been a radio operator in the military and also a HAM..... so i use it for over 30 years now....daily!

Call center sales and service rep here. I use it daily and recommend new trainees learn it. Factor in some egregious excuses for cell coverage in rural areas, people’s insistence on calling me when they are in the noisiest environment possible (please don’t), people for whom English is a second language, people who have a heavy regional accent or use a dialect other than standard American English, or just the reality of many letters sounding the same, it is very useful for clarifying people’s names, shipping addresses, and email addresses. For example I will insist on phonetically spelling back your address because otherwise your order may end up shipped to Banfield Ave rather than Bamsielt Ave. Incidentally I used to just make things up on the fly, but after someone (who I suspect needed a cookie and a nap) got rather unhinged when I decided to use ballerina for B I’ve gone to the official NATO list. If they want to be mad at the word choices they can take it up with NATO.

Alpha said “Bravo, Charlie” and Delta Echoed the sentiment. We danced the Foxtrot at one of those Golf Hotels (it was in India) when Juliet (who had put on a few Kilos) gave a Lima bean to Mike. Last November, Oscar’s Papa went to Quebec to meet Romeo. He wore a Sierra and Tango coloured Uniform. Meanwhile Victor drank Whiskey as he looked at the X-ray of the Yankee, whose arm was broken by a Zulu.

@kendotek9414

8 күн бұрын

I wish I knew this when I was in the Army🤣🤣🤣

Fun episode, I got into the habit from Ham Radio, and then customer service. Still I begin to wonder how long till your writing staff has you do a series of episodes on tongue twisters.

The shift from landlines to cell phones sometimes make this neccessary again, especially when someone uses speaker phone.

It's pretty handy when dealing with people from other countries over the phone. I'm glad it exists every time I take a call from someone from Quebec.

I was a mechanic and used the NATO alphabet all the time to communicate VIN, registration numbers and part numbers for clarity.

Very Product Placement!