J is for Jumping Jack?

The joys found in on-the-spot phone conversations

Often I find myself on the phone spelling out words for the person on the other end. This is pretty common and would be no big deal, except that I continually come up with different words for each letter.

The military alphabet is as follows: A — Alpha, 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-Xray, Y-Yankee, Z-Zulu.

Phone conversations would be so much simpler if I could memorize this alphabet and have it on command when I need to spell something out. Tiny little problem with this brilliant idea: the military alphabet words have never been what came to mind when I’m actually on the phone. See I’ve used “elephant,” “frog,” “girl,” “igloo,” “jumping jack,” “david,” “kite” to name just a few of the on-the-spot words I’ve come up with. I’ve even used “yahoo” which got quite a laugh out of the recipient on the other end. This might also have been due to my pronunciation of it like the old commercials so more like “YAHOO!”

Additionally, my head tends to overthink things so what should be a simple “C is for Catherine” becomes “well you had a relative named Catherine but then she changed her name to Kathryn, and what if the person on the other side also had the same thing in their family? Would they automatically assume it is Catherine with a C?”