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   ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:01:25 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

   one of the stranger parts of living in the UK is how common the knowledge of the NATO phonetic alphabet is. everybody, from banks to landords, expects me to be able to spell my surname using it

   is it taught in schools or something?

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:04:39 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     it feels immensely weird to see civilians use it so extensively

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:07:22 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     for comparison: i came from a country significantly more militarized than (modern-day) UK and i didn't even know what the phonetic alphabet in use was like until i googled it just now

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     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:08:11 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     @whitequark In the US I had people straight up assume I was (ex)military when I used it. I learned it when working helldesk as a teenager. Having it normalized is nice.

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     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:16:17 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     @azonenberg @ryanc I was like "do these people assume I'm ex-armed-forces??" while dictating my name. it's definitely useful and I made a conscious effort to actually memorize it, just... weird

   • Embed this notice
     Andrew Zonenberg (azonenberg@ioc.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:16:18 JST Andrew Zonenberg

     in reply to

     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     @ryanc @whitequark I use it all the time when e.g. spelling my name to customer service people over the phone or something. No idea how widespread it is in American civilian society, guessing not as much.

     But I spend enough time using radios for various reasons it's automatic to me by this point.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:32:53 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Litchralee_v6

     @azonenberg @litchralee_v6 @whitequark to be fair, some of the NATO words are rather long

   • Embed this notice
     Andrew Zonenberg (azonenberg@ioc.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:32:54 JST Andrew Zonenberg

     in reply to

     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:
     • Litchralee_v6

     @litchralee_v6 @whitequark @ryanc I mean the US has a huge range of accents too. And the use of phonetics especially in call center staff is common, it's just often something homegrown not the NATO standard alphabet.

     Of course, many US police/fire agencies (IIRC NYPD and LAPD) have homegrown phonetics too because the NATO one isn't good enough for them for some reason lol. So who knows.

   • Embed this notice
     Litchralee_v6 (litchralee_v6@ipv6.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:32:56 JST Litchralee_v6

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     @whitequark @azonenberg @ryanc If I had to take a guess, maybe the UK has such a wide range of regional accents that phone calls are smoother when more people use a phonetic alphabet. But IDK.

     That was my original reason for learning NATO phonetic alphabet, to spell my name out when leaving voicemails.

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:33:19 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Markus Werle

     @markuswerle oh, no, I'm very aware of the use in civil aviation and in fact it was listening to ATC traffic that reminded me of how widely used the NATO phonetic alphabet is in the UK. i just think that aviation, while incredibly important, includes a tiny sliver of the UK population, not anywhere near enough to shape the conventions in it as a whole

   • Embed this notice
     Markus Werle (markuswerle@nrw.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:33:20 JST Markus Werle

     in reply to

     @whitequark hey Charlie Aloha Tango Hotel, the phonetic alphabet is also used in civil aviation - which of course shares this with the Air Force. I learned it during my pilot license lessons. I believe less people know it today because no one remembers the time you had to verbally transfer decent amounts of relevant information. Everyone has WhatsApp or Signal. So no need to learn how to communicate over a bad audio connection.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:34:15 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Litchralee_v6

     @azonenberg @litchralee_v6 @whitequark I learned "charlie alpha sierra tango echo lima lima uniform charlie charlie india" pretty quick.

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     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:41:10 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Litchralee_v6

     @litchralee_v6 @azonenberg @whitequark p as in phishing

   • Embed this notice
     Litchralee_v6 (litchralee_v6@ipv6.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:41:12 JST Litchralee_v6

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     @ryanc @azonenberg @whitequark Does there exist a totally-ambiguous phonetic alphabet? Like one where it's "P as in pterodactyl" and "F as in Featherstonehaugh"?

     Not for serious use, but maybe reserved for 1 April haha

   • Embed this notice
     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:45:22 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     @azonenberg @ryanc the other thing that's bonkers to me is that 24-hour time is called "military time"

     it's normal time for me

   • Embed this notice
     Andrew Zonenberg (azonenberg@ioc.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:45:23 JST Andrew Zonenberg

     in reply to

     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     @whitequark @ryanc I mean, I probably trigger a lot of people's ex-military meter to some degree between that, the short haircut, the cargo pants, and a lot of little things that I just find convenient in civilian life that happen to have originated from or be popular in military circles.

     Doesn't make a difference to me one way or the other, just something that's crossed my mind from time to time.

   • Embed this notice
     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: (ryanc@infosec.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 15:46:17 JST Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Litchralee_v6

     @litchralee_v6 @azonenberg @whitequark g as in ghoti (GH as in enouGH, O as in wOmen, TI as in naTIon)

   • Embed this notice
     Wraith Cadmus (wraithcadmus@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 17:10:22 JST Wraith Cadmus

     in reply to

     @whitequark I ended up learning it young as my Dad drove a lot for work so had a CB radio in the car, and we have a surname no-one can spell.

   • Embed this notice
     ianh (ianh@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 17:41:06 JST ianh

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:
     • Iris Young (he/they/she) (PhD)

     @iris @azonenberg @whitequark @ryanc 11 AM -> 12 PM -> 1 PM is a sequence dreamed up by the utterly deranged

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     Iris Young (he/they/she) (PhD) (iris@neuromatch.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 17:41:07 JST Iris Young (he/they/she) (PhD)

     in reply to

     • Andrew Zonenberg
     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     @azonenberg @whitequark @ryanc so much. I detest 12-hour time almost as much as I detest Imperial weights and measures.

     Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag: repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Andrew Zonenberg (azonenberg@ioc.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 17:41:08 JST Andrew Zonenberg

     in reply to

     • Ryan Castellucci (they/them) :nonbinary_flag:

     @whitequark @ryanc ah right I forgot to mention that. I use 24 hour time exclusively on all of my devices which is not common in American civilian circles.

     When you have an odd sleep schedule and interoperate with people in other time zones it's so much more practical.

   • Embed this notice
     tef (tef@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 20:04:07 JST tef

     in reply to

     @whitequark people are used to saying "A for Apple" or "B for Bus" to spell things out here, but as someone who does know the nato phonetics, i have confused many a call centre

   • Embed this notice
     jcoglan (jcoglan@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 20:33:53 JST jcoglan

     in reply to

     @whitequark I think you're supposed to learn it from tv shows about the police