Recently, I had to provide a serial number made up of letters and numbers over the phone. So I spelled out the letters through words, using the military alphabet: Alpha for A, Bravo for B, Charlie for C, etc. It’s how I spell out the last four letters of my last name (Gamma-Echo-Lima-Delta) whenever people ask me “Mosses-wha?”

Problem was, I really didn’t know what the correct words were. That’s why I ended up saying Samba for S, Ringo for R, and Jango (is that even a word?) for J, when the correct words are Sierra, Romeo, and Juliet. Needless to say, my contact got confused, and I ended up asking “What’s the word for J again?”

Ah well, at least I know why I should remember the military alphabet. The most commonly used is apparently the NATO phonetic alphabet. This is Romeo-India-Charlie-Oscar, of Foxtrot-Four-Five, signing out!