"shambo" (was " Charlie")--Why "sham"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

The earliest American military "phonetic alphabet" (better described as a "phonocommunications alphabet") was in use in the naval services in 1913, though the exact date of its introduction is not clear.

The letter names in 1913 were

Able, Boy, Cast, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, Have, Item, Jig, King, Love, Mike, Nan, Oboe, Pup, Quack, Rush, Sail, Tare, Unit, Vice, Watch, X-ray, Yoke, Zed.

Fourteen of these names lasted through World War II. "Charlie," "Mike," and "X-ray" are the only ones to survive in use to the present day.

JL

"James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM> wrote:
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Poster: "James A. Landau"
Subject: Re: "shambo" (was " Charlie")--Why "sham"?
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During the Guadalcanal campaign in 1942, there were a pair of Japanese
airplanes which made night raids on Guadalcanal. The Americans on Guadalcanal
nicknamed these two planes "Louie the Louse" and "Washing Machine Charlie", the
latter allegedly because the motors of that plane sounded like a washing machine.

"Louie" likely was chosen for the alliteration, but why "Charlie"? Why not
"Washing Machine Harry"? I don't know. Is there some connection to "Tail End
Charlie"?

"Charlie" has a curious persistence in phonetic alphabets. During World War
II the US Army (and perhaps the Navy as well) used a phonetic alphabet that
ran "Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy..." I know some people who must have been
children during or shortly after World War II who still use "Able, Baker,
Charlie..."

When NATO was formed, the US Army went to a different phonetic alphabet, one
apparently designed to use words that were easy for non-English speakers to
say and recognize. The original version of this alphabet went "Alfa, Bravo,
Coca, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot..." In the early 1950's the Weather Bureau decided to
name hurricanes, and one year used this alphabet, so there may have been a
Hurricane Coca that year. The following year they switched to girl's names
(which quickly led to the joke "Why girl's names? You never heard of a himicane,
did you?").

However, there was something about Charlie. The phonetic alphabet was soon
modified to run "Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, ...." and that is the way it has been
ever since. It is not only the US armed forces/NATO that use "Alfa, Bravo,
Charlie...."; it is also required by ICAO (the International Civil Aviation
Organization) for pilots flying internationally, and by the FAA for all pilots
flying in the United States.

Ham radio operators have their own phonetic alphabet, which I first
encountered in 1959. This alphabet uses mostly boy's names and C is of course
"Charlie".

As for "Shambo", here is an unlikely possibility. The science
fiction/fantasy writer C. L. Moore (1911-1987) wrote a story entitled "Shambleau" which
appeared in _Wierd Tales_ in 1933. There may have been a series of Shambleau
stories; as Moore published a collection of her stories entitled _Shambleau and
Others_.

- James A. Landau

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