# words list for alphabet letters



## MaximuS.111

Hello, friends!
I was told today that there is a commonly accepted list of words that are used to identify a letter in the alphabet. 
For example:
A - as in the word 'America'
B - as in the word 'Bee'
C - as in the word 'Custom'
...
The words in blue are supposed to make the list, of course the list I'm asking about, if there is one, is compounded of different words.
I've searched a bit on the web, but haven't succeeded. Do you know anything about this kind of list?

Thanks in advance!


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## entangledbank

Yes, there is: it begins Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta, so now if you look that up on the Web you'll find the complete list.


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## MaximuS.111

*entangledbank
*thanks a lot! Best of luck!


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## GreenWhiteBlue

I would disagree. There is no single list of words that are associated with letters by everybody. There are lists that are used within certain professions (such as airline pilots, or a nation's military, or members of individual police departments), but these lists vary by location and by the group using them. The most common of these lists is the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, but there is some variation by location even in that alphabet's use.


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## Keith Bradford

That is the latest, international list.  During the Second World War there was an earlier British list which began "Able, Baker, Charlie..."


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## PaulQ

As an aside, does anyone remember or have a link to a comedy sketch or article that listed the *non*-phonetic alphabet along the lines of:

A as in Aesculus
B as in bdellium
...
G as in gnome
K as in knot
M as in mnemonic

etc?

Edit to add: After all these years, I've bothered to look, they are all over the internets and of all qualities.


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## Myridon

GreenWhiteBlue said:


> I would disagree. There is no single list of words that are associated with letters by everybody.


Although there is more than one list, they are helpful if you are at least a little bit familiar with several.  My mother was once on the phone with a support rep making up his own list.  He told her repeatedly "E as in eagle" which sounded to my mother like "A as in *a* gull".  She couldn't begin to guess what word started with A and sounded like bagel. This went off into a long conversation... "Like the bird? A gull." "Yes, the bird. *A* gull."


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## LilianaB

Hi, Entangelbank. Wouldn't it be just for the telegraph? I was studying once different coding systems, and I think this was just for the telegraph, for the military and seamen.


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## MaximuS.111

thanks to all of you for the help! And Good Luck!


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## Resa Reader

I am familiar with the British spelling alphabet: A for Andrew, B for Benjamin, C for Charlie, .....*

British Spelling Alphabet

*A = Andrew, B = Benjamin, C = Charlie, D = David, E = Edward, F = Frederick, G = George, H = Harry, 
I = Isaac, J = Jack, K = King, L = Lucy, M = Mary, N = Nelly, O = Oliver, P = Peter, Q = Queenie, R = Robert, S = Sugar, T = Tommy, U = Uncle, V = Victor, W = William, X = Xmas, Y = Yellow, Z = Zebra.


*International Spelling Alphabet

*Amsterdam, Baltimore, Casablanca, Dänemark, Edison, Florida, Gallipoli, Havanna, Italia, Jerusalem, Kilogramme, Liverpool, Madagascar, New York, Oslo, Paris, Quebec, Roma, Santiago, Tripolis, Uppsala, Valencia, Washington, Xanthippe, Yokohama, Zürich.

*The Nato Spelling Alphabet*

Alfa , Bravo , Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrott, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oskar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Viktor, Whiskey, X-Ray, Yankee, Zulu.


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## Loob

Hi MaximuS

Can I just ask a supplementary question?

When I first read your question, I thought you were asking about the sort of words (or pictures) you see in children's alphabet books - in which case there is no standard list, although the series often starts off with "A is for Apple".

It's just that when we use the Nato Phonetic Alphabet, we don't usually say "A as in Alpha, B as in Bravo etc" we just say "Alpha", "Bravo" and so on.  So if I was spelling my name over the telephone using the Nato Phonetic Alphabet, I wouldn't say "L as in Lima, O as in Oscar, O as in Oscar, B as in Bravo", I'd say "Lima, Oscar, Oscar, Bravo".

So my supplementary question is: how do you want to use this list of words?

PS. I've never come across Resa's British spelling alphabet, or her international one.  (And as GWB said, there are variations even in the Nato one....)


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## MaximuS.111

*Resa Reader*, thanks a lot


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## Resa Reader

@ Loob: I work at a hotel and catering school in Germany. I have seen this British spelling alphabet in various coursebooks. It's interesting to hear, though, that you have never heard of it. So I guess I will tell my students to only use the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.


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## Loob

Resa Reader said:


> @ Loob: I work at a hotel and catering school in Germany. I have seen this British spelling alphabet in various coursebooks. It's interesting to hear, though, that you have never heard of it. So I guess I will tell my students to only use the Nato Phonetic Alphabet.


That's interesting, Resa.  I wouldn't have a particular problem if your students wanted to use the "British" list in spelling things out to me - except for 'X = Xmas'.  To the best of my knowledge, 'Xmas' is nearly always pronounced "Christmas" - so "X as in Xmas" would sound very odd to me...!


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## Andygc

Ahem ...

A is for 'osses
B fer mutton?
C fer ships.
D fer ential
E fer Adam

etc


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## MaximuS.111

Hello *Loob
*Thanks for dropping in! I'm about to give it to my students. When we learn a new word and parse spelling they'll use it to tell me what letter they think is there .


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## ewie

This thread is in danger of turning into a massive sprawling free-for-all.


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## sdgraham

For a similar (and recent) discussion, see: 
Reading phonetic letter


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## Loob

MaximuS.111 said:


> Hello *Loob
> *Thanks for dropping in! I'm about to give it to my students. When we learn a new word and parse spelling they'll use it to tell me what letter they think is there .


In that case, MaximuS, I think it would be fun to get your students to be as creative as possible (A as in anthropologist, B as in bum etc...).

(Sorry if I'm making this thread sprawl even more, ewie.)


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## ewie

I always think these things should rhyme, for some reason:
A is for aardvark
B is for bum
C is for carpark
D is for dumb
E is for eek
F is for feather
G is for geek
H is for heather
I is for ink
J is for jerk 
K is for kink
L is for lurk
M is for Morgan 
N is for nude 
O is for organ
P is for prude
Q is for quackers
R is for rump
S is for slackers
T is for tump
U is for under
V is for I'm-stuck
W is for wonder
X is for I'm-still-stuck
_And finally_
Y starts yip and yap and you
while Z starts zip and zap and zoo.
ect.


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## MaximuS.111

Loob said:


> In that case, MaximuS, I think it would be fun to get your students to be as creative as possible (A as in anthropologist, B as in bum etc...).
> 
> (Sorry if I'm making this thread sprawl even more, ewie.)



... Over time we'll try to be creative and produce something like what *ewie *suggests .


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## LilianaB

I would say:
A as in apple
B as in boy
C as in Charlie
D as in David.


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## sdgraham

LilianaB said:


> I would say:
> A as in apple
> B as in boy
> C as in Charlie
> D as in David.



Indeed, many people just make up their own as they go along in the U.S. (Including airline reservation agents, police, etc.)


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## ewie

sdgraham said:


> Indeed, many people just make up their own as they go along in the U.S. (Including airline reservation agents, police, etc.)


I always make mine up as I go along, SDG _[post #21]_.  (For some mysterious reason B is always _bum_, though)


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## GreenWhiteBlue

ewie said:


> I always think these things should rhyme, for some reason:


Hmm.  You haven't been reading Edward Gorey's  _The Gashlycrumb Tinies_ again, have you?


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## Egmont

sdgraham said:


> Indeed, many people just make up their own as they go along in the U.S. (Including airline reservation agents, police, etc.)


I can't speak for other airlines, but American Airlines agents are trained to use a specific alphabet. (I'm certain of this; I dated an AA agent around the beginning of this century.) I don't remember exactly which phonetic alphabet it was, but it was precisely defined. It was important, too, because AA reservations are identified by a 6-letter code, and it's more difficult to pull up a reservation on the computer if the passenger gets this Record Locator code wrong.

The phonetic alphabet also comes in handy with their voice recognition system. My AA frequent flyer "number" is the letter T followed by six digits. Their system has trouble distinguishing T from B, C, D, ... However, it accepts the code "Tango" and never makes a mistake when I say the number that way.


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## Loob

ewie said:


> I always think these things should rhyme, for some reason:
> A is for aardvark
> B is for bum
> C is for carpark
> D is for dumb
> E is for eek
> F is for feather
> G is for geek
> H is for heather
> I is for ink
> J is for jerk
> K is for kink
> L is for lurk
> M is for Morgan
> N is for nude
> O is for organ
> P is for prude
> Q is for quackers
> R is for rump
> S is for slackers
> T is for tump
> U is for under
> V is for I'm-stuck
> W is for wonder
> X is for I'm-still-stuck
> _And finally_
> Y starts yip and yap and you
> while Z starts zip and zap and zoo.
> ect.


Quite, quite brilliant, ewblies!


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## Andygc

Egmont said:


> I can't speak for other airlines, but American Airlines agents are trained to use a specific alphabet.


I wished that worked for railway reservations here. I booked by phone backalong and was given a combination of letters and numbers including A L. Repeated twice and read back to her. When I got to the station my reference number was one digit too long. I was saved by the enquiries desk clerk saying - _but the references never have an "a" in them_. God only knows why the original booking clerk thought that the one letter in the alphabet that needs an indefinite article is "L".



			
				ewie said:
			
		

> This thread is in danger of turning into a massive sprawling free-for-all.


 Yup


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## LilianaB

V for victory
Z for xerox.


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## aprilabusta

Hi everyone,

I  was wondering: when you need to spell a word, e.g. during a phone call, which words would you use? Is there an established set of words that can be used? Are there differences between the AE and BE way to do it?
I can't find anything from trustable sources on the web (I'm probably not searching it the proper way).
Anyone out there can help me (and correct me, in case I made mistakes)?
Thank you one and all,


aprlbst


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## pwmeek

See this Wikipedia page for the official words to use. You will want to memorize something, so why not memorize what most people use. These words are chosen to be pronounced similarly by most western language speakers.

Sorry; I should have described it as the "NATO list", however it _is_ widely used.


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## ewie

See above, April



LilianaB said:


> V for victory
> Z for xerox.


I think you'll find that _xerox_ starts (and indeed ends) with an _*x*_, Lil


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## morzh

From what I know being a part-time ham (back in the old country) the NATO alphabet is accepted internationally and is probably by far the most popular.

Yes one can say "Aardvark" for "a", but is is usually "Alpha".

the military accepted this alphabet because it is the least prone to errors and very crisp, and leaves no room for guesswork.


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## Egmont

pwmeek said:


> See this Wikipedia page for the official words to use. You will want to memorize something, so why not memorize what most people use. These words are chosen to be pronounced similarly by most western language speakers.


That may be the most common set of words to use, as that page claims*. That may also be the official set of words that some specific organizations, such as NATO, have adopted as their standard. However, calling it "the official set of words to use" is going a bit too far. It has no force of law anywhere, as far as I know, and certainly not worldwide. It's not even like the official list of postal codes in a country. There's nothing wrong with this list, but any person or organization is free to adopt any other list that it, he or she happens to like.

______________________
*Anything on a Wikipedia page is somewhat suspect, since anyone is free to write anything there, and pages on topics like this tend to be written by users and/or fans of that topic. However, this statement seems reasonable on the surface. I'm willing to accept it unless someone has information to the contrary.


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## ewie

Egmont said:


> There's nothing wrong with this list, but any person or organization is free to adopt any other list that it, he or she happens to like.


Nicely put, Eg.  E.g. I'm fully aware of that 'official' list, but I can never remember it ~ no, I've never got round to memorizing it, because I so rarely have to spell things out over a crackly line.  As I think I said earlier, I just make it up as I go along, though obviously I'm careful not to use obscure words _(A as in adumbration, E as in elephantiasis_, etc.)


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## Hau Ruck

Egmont said:


> That may be the most common set of words to use, as that page claims*. That may also be the official set of words that some specific organizations, such as NATO, have adopted as their standard. However, calling it "the official set of words to use" is going a bit too far. It has no force of law anywhere, as far as I know, and certainly not worldwide. It's not even like the official list of postal codes in a country. There's nothing wrong with this list, but any person or organization is free to adopt any other list that it, he or she happens to like.



Agreed. I've found that most people outside of the military and aviation have no idea what you are saying when using some of the less frequently-used letters.


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## Myridon

The point of most of the standard lists is that the words are chosen so that there is no possible confusion between any two pairs which often necessitates a few less common words.
If I can use any list I like, I'll have E = Engine and I = Indian so that when I say "lady injun injun", you won't know if I mean lee or lei or lie.


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## aprilabusta




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## DocPenfro

> Agreed. I've found that most people outside of the military and aviation have no idea what you are saying when using some of the less frequently-used letters.



Most people?  The NATO alphabet has been in use for fifty years and is as close as you can get to an international communication medium.  The selection of words, even with minor variations, can be spoken and understood by users of all nationalities. The alternative is either to create and memorise your own phonetic alphabet or else to try to come up with spur-of-the-moment improvised words to meet the demands of the occasion.


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## Hau Ruck

DocPenfro said:


> Most people?  The NATO alphabet has been in use for fifty years and is as close as you can get to an international communication medium.  The selection of words, even with minor variations, can be spoken and understood by users of all nationalities. The alternative is either to create and memorise your own phonetic alphabet or else to try to come up with spur-of-the-moment improvised words to meet the demands of the occasion.



Yes. Most people I've encountered in the U.S. 
 I, myself, am a pilot; I use the standard phonetic alphabet on what seems like a daily basis in many regards. Most of the people I encounter, whether it be face-to-face, or on the phone, say "huh?" when I use them.  

Call it the demographic in both age and location or anything else, my encounter with _most_ people is that they do not recognize it.  Most people make up words that relate to something they are familiar with - not a "recognized" NATO standard.


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## cycloneviv

In a hotel situation and the like, I'd tend to use normal, day-to-day words rather than the NATO standard (which, frankly, I don't know at all well! In fact, I'd probably get to D and then forget the rest.) Often I use common names: A as in Andrew, B as in Bob, C as in Claire etc, or the type of words we learnt in our first years at primary school: A as in apple, B as in ball, C as in cat, D as in dog... You can find such a list here.


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## Hau Ruck

cycloneviv said:


> In a hotel situation and the like, I'd tend to use normal, day-to-day words rather than the NATO standard (which, frankly, I don't know at all well! In fact, I'd probably get to D and then forget the rest.) Often I use common names: A as in Andrew, B as in Bob, C as in Claire etc, or the type of words we learnt in our first years at primary school: A as in apple, B as in ball, C as in cat, D as in dog... You can find such a list here.



You represent what many would do. I don't know many that know or use the NATO outside of certain groups.


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## Andygc

pwmeek said:


> Sorry; I should have described it as the "NATO list"


Not at all - it is much more widely used than that and it was not invented by NATO. It is used by anybody trying to communicate by radio using an international standard spelling alphabet and is also widely used by telephone call centres. Just two days ago the call handler on the Toshiba technical help desk in the UK used it to give me my reference number for my warranty repair.

If speaking AE speaker to AE speaker or BE to BE then making up your own word list is fine and may be quite entertaining. However, if you want to talk across language borders, a standardised alphabet has to be preferable. The International Phonetic Alphabet (spelling version - not the IPA for pronunciation) was devised to make it usable by both English and non-English speakers. It works.


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## morzh

I knew "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...Fox, Papa, Tango, Uniform, Whisky, X-ray, Zulu" etc way before I came to live in one of the NATO countries


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## Keith Bradford

ewie said:


> ...U is for under
> V is for I'm-stuck
> W is for wonder
> X is for I'm-still-stuck
> _And finally_
> Y starts yip and yap and you
> while Z starts zip and zap and zoo.
> ect.



U is for under
V is for velodrome
W is for wonder
X is for xylophone.


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