The NATO phonetics are so tired and old. This one uses popular fictional characters instead:

Aladdin Buffy Cruella Dorothy Edward Fiona Gandalf Hulk Igor Joker Kermit Lilo Mufasa Naruto Olaf Pikachu Quark Rapunzel Scoobie Tigger Ursula Vegeta Wolverine Xena Yoda Zorro

  • wjrii@lemmy.world
    14·
    20 hours ago

    Unfortunately, Xena has got to go. There’s no phonetic difference with Z. Xavier might be your best bet, but that’s a tough one.

    Edit… Quebec and Kilo in the NATO one give me pause, though. Maybe Xena can stay after all.

    • rumschlumpel@feddit.org
      8·
      17 hours ago

      If Cruella was written with a K, it would be pronounced the same, too. A certain amount of phonetic redundancy is pretty normal for alphabets that weren’t purpose-made for that specific language.

      Is Zena a word or relatively well-known name?

      • Zagorath@aussie.zone
        4·
        10 hours ago

        If Cruella was written with a K, it would be pronounced the same, too

        I suspect that’s why NATO uses Charlie. No other letter is pronounced ⟨tʃ⟩ with any significant frequency in English.

        Can I suggest Chucky?

        Edit: actually, even better: Chewbacca.

    • absentbird@lemmy.worldOP
      8·
      19 hours ago

      Yeah, I really racked my brain on that one. There is a superhero named Xray, but it isn’t a satisfying option. Xavier is actually really good, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that, professor X, easy to remember.