The Phonetic Alphabet - Political Correctness strikes again (2 Viewers)

[The Military Workshop]

Some of the police / ex Police or military guys might be amused by this one.
On the radio in Brisbane yesterday it was mentioned that the Queensland Police had decided that using the word "India" in the Phonetic Alphabet was "culturally insensitive" and they are looking to find another word instead.
The radio was having a competition to find a replacement and some suggestions were Ignorant, Ignoramous and Illiegal.
It was also jokingly suggested that the Phonetic Alphabet could be put out to sponsorship so suggestions were iPhone and IKEA.
In the Toy Soldier world we could have Conte or Britains sponsoring Zulu and I guess a certain US dealer has a lock on the letter S already !!!
Just some useless trivia from Down Under.
Regards
Brett

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Hilarious!

 

[DMNamiot]

WOW Thats totally ridiculas. I wonder what the world is coming too if the use of the word india as part of the phonetic alphabet is insensitive. Thats just about the dumbest thing I have heard in a very long time.

Dave

 

[The Military Workshop]

Dave,
If the Indians hear about it they may have to re-name their country.
Brett

 

[damian]

Why don't they replace it with "Irish"

 

[DCN1898]

In the American Police alphabet, it is IDA. We just took out two letters, you could save two letters worth of airspace!

 

[wayne556517]

WOW Thats totally ridiculas. I wonder what the world is coming too if the use of the word india as part of the phonetic alphabet is insensitive. Thats just about the dumbest thing I have heard in a very long time.

Dave

Yep i agree we need to toughen up...........

 

[Phantom Warrior]

In the American Police alphabet, it is IDA. We just took out two letters, you could save two letters worth of airspace!

On behalf of all the Ida's in the world who don't want their name constantly on police radios .....

Terry

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

How about "I" as in Intolerant.

 

[Wraith]

That sounds about right.
We had the same issue raised over Zulu a number of years ago, but luckily the powers that be generated a rare moment of common sense. My suggestion as a replacement to 'India' would be 'In yer dreams'

 

[Phantom Warrior]

How about Idiot. No - politicians and politically correct groups would complain.

Ice Cream - no - weight watcher groups could complain. I bet there isn't a word that some group, somewhere wouldn't be offended by.

Terry

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

How about Idiot. No - politicians and politically correct groups would complain.

Ice Cream - no - weight watcher groups could complain. I bet there isn't a word that some group, somewhere wouldn't be offended by.

Terry

If you just use "I" as in I, you can only be offended by yourself.

 

[Scott]

The British Police use "Indigo."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A8245910

Might be more of a pronunciation issue...........

"At some US airports, the use of 'Delta' is avoided because it is also the call sign for Delta Air Lines. 'Dixie' seems to be the most common substitute. 'Foxtrot' may be abbreviated as 'Fox' at United States airports. In British police work the use of 'India' has been replaced by 'Indigo'. Sometimes, in the Philippines, the word 'Hawk' is used for the letter H rather than 'Hotel'. In Indonesia, the word 'Lima' is seldom used since the word 'lima' means number five (5) in Bahasa Indonesia. Instead, 'London' is most often used. Many unofficial phonetic alphabets are in use that are not based on the standard, but are based on words the transmitter can easily remember. Often, such ad-hoc phonetic alphabets are based on (mostly) men's names, such as Alan, Bobby, Charlie, David, Edward, Frederick, George, Howard, Isaac, James, Kevin, Larry, Michael, Nicholas, Oscar, Peter, Quincy, Robert, Stephen, Trevor, Ulysses, Vincent, William, Xavier, Yaakov, Zebedee, or on a mixture of names and other easily recognisable (and locally understandable) proper nouns such as US states, local cities and towns, etc..."

 

[Wraith]

The British Police use "Indigo."

Nope, we still use 'India'. Not sure where that info came from.

 

[Scott]

Thanks for the local input. The link says the BBC.

 

[Phantom Warrior]

If you just use "I" as in I, you can only be offended by yourself.

"I" doesn't qualify as a phonetic. How about "EYE"?

or "Aye Aye Captain"

Terry

 

[Scott]

This alphabet wasn't written in stone. Zebra and Zed used to be used before Zulu.
I wonder if some one in the Queensland Indian population complained or it had anything to do with confusing them with a letter with actual Indians living there during police work. There's usually more to this kind of story rather than just stirring up people.

 

[Wraith]

Anyone got info on US military company prefixes?
I've read a few books, and A Company seems to go via different 'phonetics', eg Alpha, Assassin etc, C Company might be Charlie, China and so on.

Is there a degree of choice for each Battalion, or variation between different services within the military?

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Anyone got info on US military company prefixes?
I've read a few books, and A Company seems to go via different 'phonetics', eg Alpha, Assassin etc, C Company might be Charlie, China and so on.

Is there a degree of choice for each Battalion, or variation between different services within the military?

The international radiotelephony spelling alphabet is officially Alfa Bravo Coca Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliett Kilo Lima Metro Nectar Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Union Victor Whisky Extra Yankee Zulu

In WW2 the US used Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox George How Item Jig King Love Mike Nan Oboe Peter Queen Roger Sugar Tare Uncle Victor William
X-ray Yoke Zebra

The Brits had their own words until 1942 when they switched to the US words.

As for US company names, I have heard several different names for A, B, and C companies. When there is more than one battalion in an area, the use of different names for A company could identify which company and battalion is referred to.

Terry

 

[Wraith]

As for US company names, I have heard several different names for A, B, and C companies. When there is more than one battalion in an area, the use of different names for A company could identify which company and battalion is referred to.

Terry

Yep, not thought of that, cheers Terry.

The Brit version is: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.
S'funny the slight differences you get acros different nations.