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#92274 01/16/03 10:29 PM
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My late husband, A US Air Force officer explained to me the letter-explanation-words were chosen because they are know and/or understood in most of the world's languages.

My understanding was that these particular words were chosen to have as little overlap as can be contrived, so that if part of the word were garbled by transmission the correct letter could still be determined accurately. (As opposed to the "standard" letter names, in which it can be hard to differentiate among b/c/d/e/g/p/t/v/z or a/j/k or m/n or f/s and such like if there is any fuzziness to the reception)



#92275 01/16/03 10:36 PM
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I used to fiddle around with "better" examples, for greater redundancy/memorability/giggle-potential:

A as in applesauce
B - baby-bottle
C - cookie-cutter
D - dandelion

F - fluffy
G - giggle
H - hobby-horse
J - jumping-jack
L - lollipop
M - marshmallow
N - nincompoop

P - popcorn


and then they petered out.
Anyone want to contribute to the list?


#92276 01/16/03 11:48 PM
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Oh, sure, I can see tough military types saying, "baby bottle applesauce giggle"! I'll see if I can come up with any--

E-eek
I-Ima (esp. good when followed by something clever)
K-kicky
O-ogee
Q-quantum
R-rattler
S-sweetums
T-tinkle
U-Uranous
V-velvet
W-wicked
X-Xanadu
Y-yo-yo
Z-zombie



#92277 01/17/03 02:08 AM
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I got hooked on trying to fill out the rest of the alphabet with enough examples of confusing examples to add to those already given so as to complete the alphabet. Some were relatively easy, I just had to think real hard...

E as in Eugene or eugenics.
G as in gnome
I as in Iraqi or Iwo Jimo
O as in Oedipus
J as in Jungian Psychology
Q as in qoph, the 19th letter of the hebrew alphabet
(Of course this was easy, all the "Q" words sound a "K".)

But then I had to get out the dictionary and
s-t-r-e-t-c-h...

N as in Ndjamena (en-JA-ma-Na) the capital of Chad.
Y as in Y-chromosome (WI-KRO-me-SOM)
V as in Vaduz (fa-DOOTS) the capital of Liechtenstein
Z as in zingara (TSEN-ta-ro) a gypsy

I still can't find a word for "S" or "U" but my brain quits.






#92278 01/17/03 09:53 AM
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A for gardener
B for mutton
C for miles
D for blind
E for nods
F for lasting

Starts to get difficult here, but you remember them I’m sure.





#92279 01/18/03 03:10 AM
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A for gardener
B for mutton
C for miles
D for blind
E for nods
F for lasting


whaaaa?


#92280 01/18/03 04:13 AM
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A for gardener Ava Gardner?
B for mutton Lamb? Oh, no--beef or mutton!
C for miles See for miles?
D for blind Deaf or blind?
E for nods ?
F for lasting Everlasting?


#92281 01/18/03 12:43 PM
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E for nods ?


ZZZ for nods...



formerly known as etaoin...
#92282 01/18/03 09:21 PM
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E for nods...Even odds.


#92283 01/19/03 02:18 AM
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Even odds.
Are there more "real" ones? If not, how 'bout:
I for ...tower
M for...sis
N for...ence
O for ...goodness' sake!
T for...two
Y for... [fill in the blank]




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