"in phonetics"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wackipedia has a fascinating discussion at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet#Pronunciation

Scroll down esp. to "Pronunciation."  "Golf," e.g. is theoretically supposed
to be pronounced like "gulf."

JL

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 6:13 AM, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "in phonetics"
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson,
>
> To the best of my knowledge "Alfa" still represents A in military
> "phonetics".  Has remained the same since 1956, when it changed, supposedly
> to facilitate pronunciation by members of various NATO countries' armed
> forces.  In the changeover from the old "Abel, Baker, Charlie..." form,
> three survived:  Charlie, Mike, & Victor
>
> Bill Palmer
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 10:10 PM
> Subject: Re: "in phonetics"
>
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "in phonetics"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I wonder why _A_ is such a problem? "Abel" in WWII, "alfa" during my
> > military service, now "adam." And there's "bravo" vs. "baker." But
> > "charlie" appears to be money.
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 2:17 PM, Arnold Zwicky<zwicky at stanford.edu>
> wrote:
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> >> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> >> Subject: Â  Â  Â "in phonetics"
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> a little while ago, on an episode of NCIS, Special Agent Gibbs (played
> >> by Mark Harman), annoyed when people failed to understand some proper
> >> names, exhorted everyone to say the names "in phonetics" -- by which
> >> he meant that they should use what's known in some circles (especially
> >> military ones) as a "phonetic alphabet". Â the technical term for these
> >> is "spelling alphabet", but you can see why no one would want to say
> >> that you should use "spelling".
> >>
> >> a spelling alphabet is a kind of code for the letters of the alphabet,
> >> in which each letter is represented by a word beginning with that
> >> letter: Adam, Bravo, Charlie,...; Abel, Baker, Charlie,...
> >>
> >> the wikipedia entry gives a number of spelling alphabets, for english
> >> and a number of other languages:
> >> Â  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_alphabet
> >>
> >> i didn't find "phonetic alphabet" (in this sense) under either
> >> "phonetic" or "alphabet" in the OED. Â or "spelling alphabet" under
> >> either "spelling" or "alphabet".
> >>
> >> arnold
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > â?"â?"â?"
>  > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -----
> > -Mark Twain
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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