Okay, veterans, help me out, is there a typo on Castaway Cay?

[aboveH20]

It was easy for my Navy son to learn the phonetic alphabet, much harder for him to teach me. Even now, sometimes as I'm trying to fall asleep I go through the alphabet and occasionally get stuck on one of the less used letters.

So, imagine my dismay to come across this sign on Castaway Cay.



Is one of the letters "wrong"? Are there variations of the alphabet? International versus US military? I don't need anything else to keep me up at nights!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

It was easy for my Navy son to learn the phonetic alphabet, much harder for him to teach me. Even now, sometimes as I'm trying to fall asleep I go through the alphabet and occasionally get stuck on one of the less used letters.

So, imagine my dismay to come across this sign on Castaway Cay.

View attachment 122056

Is one of the letters "wrong"? Are there variations of the alphabet? International versus US military? I don't need anything else to keep me up at nights!

Are you asking about the spelling of the word for one of the letters? I see A (Alpha) as incorrectly spelled.

Or are you asking if different words are used to identify letters? As in N could be November or N could be Nancy.

 

[TartanFan]

Two typos that I can see:

A = Alpha (not Alfa)
R = Romeo (not Romero)

N is never Nancy in the phonetic alphabet, although used a lot informally

 

[perditax]

Wikipedia says Alfa is correct. Wikipedia also shows Juliett with two Ts, something else that caught my eye.

 

[TartanFan]

Well I'm old-school (learned my phonetic alphabet about 30 years ago!), British and a bit gramatically anal but if Wikipedia says it's correct, it must be so!!!

 

[ashleyhaugh]

I've always seen Alpha and Romeo

 

[aboveH20]

Wow! You all are good. I didn't even catch Alfa -- the "phonetic" for Alpha.

It was Romero that has been giving me sleepless nights. Didn't know if it was acceptable in some alphabets or a typo.

Probably would be responsible of me to plan a return trip to Castaway Cay and gently bring it to someone's attention. Maybe I could get the captain of the ship to back me up.

 

[bumbershoot]

Probably would be responsible of me to plan a return trip to Castaway Cay and gently bring it to someone's attention. Maybe I could get the captain of the ship to back me up.

Sounds like a good reason to go on a cruise.

navy.mil shows "alfa", along with some other maritime sites. But they show "juliet" and "romeo". So I think those two could be wrong.

(Disneyland Halloween party maps a few years ago told us where to meet the "stromtroppers"...the CM at City Hall nearly fainted when he finally saw it (your eyes want to make it "right" so it took a moment)...Disney is definitely not immune to spelling issues)

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Grew up with a Marine Father and DH was 32 years a Marine. I learned (and still use when spelling last name) the first set except we use ALPHA.


Letter 1957-Present Morse Code 1913 1927 1938 World War II
A Alfa (or Alpha) . _ Able Affirmative Afirm Afirm (Able)
B Bravo _ . . . Boy Baker Baker Baker
C Charlie _ . _ . Cast Cast Cast Charlie
D Delta _ . . Dog Dog Dog Dog
E Echo . Easy Easy Easy Easy
F Foxtrot . . _ . Fox Fox Fox Fox
G Golf _ _ . George George George George
H Hotel . . . . Have Hypo Hypo How
I India . . Item Interrogatory Int Int (Item)
J Juliett . _ _ _ Jig Jig Jig Jig
K Kilo _ . _ King King King King
L Lima . _ . . Love Love Love Love
M Mike _ _ Mike Mike Mike Mike
N November _ . Nan Negative Negat Negat (Nan)
O Oscar _ _ _ Oboe Option Option Option (Oboe)
P Papa . _ _ . Pup Preparatory Prep Prep (Peter)
Q Quebec _ _ . _ Quack Quack Queen Queen
R Romeo . _ . Rush Roger Roger Roger
S Sierra . . . Sail Sail Sail Sugar
T Tango _ Tare Tare Tare Tare
U Uniform . . _ Unit Unit Unit Uncle
V Victor . . . _ Vice Vice Victor Victor
W Whiskey . _ _ Watch William William William
X X-ray _ . . _ X-ray X-ray X-ray X-ray
Y Yankee _ . _ _ Yoke Yoke Yoke Yoke
Z Zulu _ _ . . Zed Zed Zed Zebra

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Two typos that I can see:

A = Alpha (not Alfa)
R = Romeo (not Romero)

N is never Nancy in the phonetic alphabet, although used a lot informally

Never heard "Nancy" used. I would have because it's my name.

 

[TartanFan]

Never heard "Nancy" used. I would have because it's my name.

In a former life (before the internet if you can believe such a time!), I worked in the reservations centre of a major airline and I heard "N for Nancy" quite a lot. Although some of the other "phonetics" I heard from the public wouldn't bear repeating on a public forum!

 

[insureman]

They must have used the same imagineer that did the sign at Typhoon Lagoon. Scroll through the photos for the exact sign.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/piranha-in-pool.2539797/

 

[gumbypee]

In a former life (before the internet if you can believe such a time!), I worked in the reservations centre of a major airline and I heard "N for Nancy" quite a lot. Although some of the other "phonetics" I heard from the public wouldn't bear repeating on a public forum!

I usually use N for Nancy BUT I also use other words when spelling things for people. I am not using military words so of course you would hear stuff working for airlines. Doesn't mean it is a military thing.

 

[aboveH20]

It's such a disparate list of words, I wonder how they were assigned. I can imagine this scenario:

Leader: "Well, I'd say we've done a good job getting through the alphabet. We finally made it to W. What about Washington?"
By a 64-36 vote it gets defeated.

Leader: "How about Wednesday?"
Voted down 43-57.

Leader: "Waltz would be easy to remember."
Overwhelmingly nixed, 2-98.

Leader: "Anyone like Whiskey?"
Landslide approval, 100-0.

 

[Sil452]

I've always seen it as "Alpha" and "Romeo." I know in the law enforcement field it varies by departments, states, cities and federal government. I've heard this version before, as well as another where they used names (Adam, Baker, Charlie, David...).

 

[aboveH20]

I was wondering to what extent they might vary by location, that's why I was willing to give Disney the benefit of the doubt that maybe Romero was regional.

I often use men's names when I'm trying to spell my last name over the phone.

 

[KYDad]

Not a veteran, but I work with Police agencies.

There are two main versions of the phonetic alphabet. Civilian (A lot of Police agencies use this one) and Military. There can be some variation on the names used in the civilian alphabet depending on the area of the country you live in (such as Nancy for N in some areas).

CIVILIAN OR LAW ENFORCEMENT
PHONETIC ALPHABET
A - ADAM
B - BOY
C - CHARLES
D - DAVID
E - EDWARD
F - FRANK
G - GEORGE
H - HENRY
I - IDA
J - JOHN
K - KING
L - LINCOLN
M - MARY
N - NORA
O - OCEAN
P - PAUL
Q - QUEEN
R - ROBERT
S - SAM
T - TOM
U - UNION
V - VICTOR
W - WILLIAM
X - X-RAY
Y - YOUNG
Z - ZEBRA


Military (from Army.com)
Letter Code Word
A - Alfa
B - Bravo
C - Charlie
D - Delta
E - Echo
F - Foxtrot
G - Golf
H - Hotel
I - India
J - Juliet
K - Kilo
L - Lima
M - Mike
N - November
O - Oscar
P - Papa
Q - Quebec
R - Romeo
S - Sierra
T - Tango
U - Uniform
V - Victor
W - Whiskey
X - X-ray
Y - Yankee
Z - Zulu

 

[aboveH20]

Not a veteran, but I work with Police agencies.

There are two main versions of the phonetic alphabet. Civilian (A lot of Police agencies use this one) and Military. There can be some variation on the names used in the civilian alphabet depending on the area of the country you live in (such as Nancy for N in some areas).

CIVILIAN OR LAW ENFORCEMENT
PHONETIC ALPHABET
A - ADAM
B - BOY
C - CHARLES
D - DAVID
E - EDWARD
F - FRANK
G - GEORGE
H - HENRY
I - IDA
J - JOHN
K - KING
L - LINCOLN
M - MARY
N - NORA
O - OCEAN
P - PAUL
Q - QUEEN
R - ROBERT
S - SAM
T - TOM
U - UNION
V - VICTOR
W - WILLIAM
X - X-RAY
Y - YOUNG
Z - ZEBRA


Military (from Army.com)
Letter Code Word
A - Alfa
B - Bravo
C - Charlie
D - Delta
E - Echo
F - Foxtrot
G - Golf
H - Hotel
I - India
J - Juliet
K - Kilo
L - Lima
M - Mike
N - November
O - Oscar
P - Papa
Q - Quebec
R - Romeo
S - Sierra
T - Tango
U - Uniform
V - Victor
W - Whiskey
X - X-ray
Y - Yankee
Z - Zulu

Interesting, thanks. So Victor and X-ray are the only two that made both lists.

I wonder where Zulu came from?

 

[aggiedog]

I wonder where Zulu came from?

Former military also. I'm fairly certain Romero is just a typo. As for Zulu, I have no idea, though I've often wondered where "Bravo Zulu" Navy-speak for "good job" came from. It's often just shortened to "BZ."

 

[MUN]

In a former life (before the internet if you can believe such a time!), I worked in the reservations centre of a major airline and I heard "N for Nancy" quite a lot. Although some of the other "phonetics" I heard from the public wouldn't bear repeating on a public forum!

I usually use the civilian code with the following variations: A as in Are, C as in Chris, E as in Eye, G as in Gnome, H as in Hole, K as in Knight, N as in Nose, O as in Opossum, P as in Pheasant, R as in Right, W as in Wrap,