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My apologies to those who found this somewhat off-topic thread annoying.
Please let me explain my primary motives for this topic, and then, if
needed, further discussion can extend off-list.
My motives:
(1) I wanted to prevent confusion when trying to relay, over the phone,
document or equipment ID "numbers," which often include letters. There
invariably was confusion over whether I said (or heard) s or f, m or n, etc.
And when I tried to come up with my own "phonetic" word, I would often
choose one that muddied the waters further. (This is about communication.)
(2) I wanted to know what the proper words were and didn't, so I thought I'd
ask y'all (you'uns, youse guys). ;)
(3) I then decided to gather some background info. (off-list) re. the
phonetic alphabet for a newsletter article I wanted to write for my company.
Several responses were enormously helpful and provided names of people to
contact, which I did.
Many thanks to those who responded on- and off-list.
Sincere apologies to those who found this thread useless, distracting, or
downright annoying.
Shelley R. Strong, Editor (and Young Pup)
Tech Reps, Inc. Albuquerque, NM
E-mail: sstrong -at- techreps -dot- com