Being understood on the telephone:

    This is the "international phonetic alphabet" as used in military radio communications and aviation in order to spell out words. (It is not, of course, a "phonetic alphabet" in the sense that a linguist would use.)

    Older version (to WW II)

    Current version by International
    Civil Aviation Organisation (1955)

    ABLE

    BAKER

    CHARLIE

    DOG

    EASY

    FOX

    GEORGE

    HOW

    ITEM

    JIG

    KING

    LOVE

    MIKE

    NAN

    OBOE

    PETER

    QUEEN

    ROGER

    SUGAR

    TAPE

    UNCLE

    VICTOR

    WILLIAM

    X-RAY

    YOLK

    ZEBRA

    ALPHA

    BRAVO

    CHARLIE

    DELTA

    ECHO

    FOXTROT

    GULF

    HOTEL

    INDIA

    JUNO

    KILO

    LIMA

    MIKE

    NOVEMBER

    OSCAR

    PAPA

    QUEBEC

    ROMEO

    SIERRA

    TANGO

    UNIFORM

    VICTOR

    WHISKEY

    X-RAY

    YANKEE

    ZULU

    There have been many other similar alphabets (see Brian Kelk's pages), and they exist for many languages, not just English. Most people, however, invent their own on the fly, often using proper names, J as in JIM, E as in EDWARD, etc.

    Readers of Arthur Ransome's children's books will remember Uncle Jim's angry conversation with the telephone operator when he tries to alert the firefighters to a fell fire in Pigeon Post, "Fellside seven-five... No, not NINE, FIVE... F for FOOL, I for IDIOT, ..."

    Another variant is my SILENT ALPHABET.