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Why does the ICAO alphabet use “Charlie†for C?
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
up vote
20
down vote
favorite
Why does the ICAO alphabet use "Charlie" for C? Specifically, why choose "Charlie", which has a "Ch" sound, rather than a word with the hard "C" such as "Carl"?
A cursory Googling turns up nothing.
radio-communications icao
edited 7 hours ago
Machavity
1,8462526
asked Aug 2 at 19:00
Deja Wu
10914
 |Â
show 10 more comments
up vote
20
down vote
favorite
Why does the ICAO alphabet use "Charlie" for C? Specifically, why choose "Charlie", which has a "Ch" sound, rather than a word with the hard "C" such as "Carl"?
A cursory Googling turns up nothing.
radio-communications icao
edited 7 hours ago
Machavity
1,8462526
asked Aug 2 at 19:00
Deja Wu
10914
16
I voted to close this, it should be reworded to include the entire NATO alphabet otherwise we are going to have 25 more questions on the subject. The entire NATO alphabet is discussed with great detail and analysis of each letter at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
– jwzumwalt
Aug 2 at 19:45
7
A: aye. B: bee. C: cerise. E: eye. G: gnat. H: honour. K: knee/knife. O: oestrogen. P: pneumatic. etc.
– Transistor
Aug 2 at 22:51
12
If you are from eastern Europe you would spell "Carl" with a K. Karl Marx, karl Benz (Mercedes) Karl Dönitz, a town in Rhineland, Germany etc. etc. etc.
– paul
Aug 3 at 0:22
2
note that C is pronounced like /tʃ/ or /ts/ in many languages, so Ch is almost the same as C
– phuclv
Aug 3 at 2:11
4
I sense some other 25 questions coming in
– PlasmaHH
2 days ago
 |Â
show 10 more comments
up vote
20
down vote
favorite
up vote
20
down vote
favorite
Why does the ICAO alphabet use "Charlie" for C? Specifically, why choose "Charlie", which has a "Ch" sound, rather than a word with the hard "C" such as "Carl"?
A cursory Googling turns up nothing.
radio-communications icao
edited 7 hours ago
Machavity
1,8462526
asked Aug 2 at 19:00
Deja Wu
10914
Why does the ICAO alphabet use "Charlie" for C? Specifically, why choose "Charlie", which has a "Ch" sound, rather than a word with the hard "C" such as "Carl"?
A cursory Googling turns up nothing.
radio-communications icao
edited 7 hours ago
Machavity
1,8462526
asked Aug 2 at 19:00
Deja Wu
10914
edited 7 hours ago
Machavity
1,8462526
edited 7 hours ago
Machavity
1,8462526
edited 7 hours ago
Machavity
1,8462526
1,8462526
asked Aug 2 at 19:00
Deja Wu
10914
asked Aug 2 at 19:00
Deja Wu
10914
asked Aug 2 at 19:00
Deja Wu
10914
10914
16
I voted to close this, it should be reworded to include the entire NATO alphabet otherwise we are going to have 25 more questions on the subject. The entire NATO alphabet is discussed with great detail and analysis of each letter at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
– jwzumwalt
Aug 2 at 19:45
7
A: aye. B: bee. C: cerise. E: eye. G: gnat. H: honour. K: knee/knife. O: oestrogen. P: pneumatic. etc.
– Transistor
Aug 2 at 22:51
12
If you are from eastern Europe you would spell "Carl" with a K. Karl Marx, karl Benz (Mercedes) Karl Dönitz, a town in Rhineland, Germany etc. etc. etc.
– paul
Aug 3 at 0:22
2
note that C is pronounced like /tʃ/ or /ts/ in many languages, so Ch is almost the same as C
– phuclv
Aug 3 at 2:11
4
I sense some other 25 questions coming in
– PlasmaHH
2 days ago
 |Â
show 10 more comments
16
I voted to close this, it should be reworded to include the entire NATO alphabet otherwise we are going to have 25 more questions on the subject. The entire NATO alphabet is discussed with great detail and analysis of each letter at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
– jwzumwalt
Aug 2 at 19:45
7
A: aye. B: bee. C: cerise. E: eye. G: gnat. H: honour. K: knee/knife. O: oestrogen. P: pneumatic. etc.
– Transistor
Aug 2 at 22:51
12
If you are from eastern Europe you would spell "Carl" with a K. Karl Marx, karl Benz (Mercedes) Karl Dönitz, a town in Rhineland, Germany etc. etc. etc.
– paul
Aug 3 at 0:22
2
note that C is pronounced like /tʃ/ or /ts/ in many languages, so Ch is almost the same as C
– phuclv
Aug 3 at 2:11
4
I sense some other 25 questions coming in
– PlasmaHH
2 days ago
16
16
I voted to close this, it should be reworded to include the entire NATO alphabet otherwise we are going to have 25 more questions on the subject. The entire NATO alphabet is discussed with great detail and analysis of each letter at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
– jwzumwalt
Aug 2 at 19:45
I voted to close this, it should be reworded to include the entire NATO alphabet otherwise we are going to have 25 more questions on the subject. The entire NATO alphabet is discussed with great detail and analysis of each letter at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
– jwzumwalt
Aug 2 at 19:45
7
7
A: aye. B: bee. C: cerise. E: eye. G: gnat. H: honour. K: knee/knife. O: oestrogen. P: pneumatic. etc.
– Transistor
Aug 2 at 22:51
A: aye. B: bee. C: cerise. E: eye. G: gnat. H: honour. K: knee/knife. O: oestrogen. P: pneumatic. etc.
– Transistor
Aug 2 at 22:51
12
12
If you are from eastern Europe you would spell "Carl" with a K. Karl Marx, karl Benz (Mercedes) Karl Dönitz, a town in Rhineland, Germany etc. etc. etc.
– paul
Aug 3 at 0:22
If you are from eastern Europe you would spell "Carl" with a K. Karl Marx, karl Benz (Mercedes) Karl Dönitz, a town in Rhineland, Germany etc. etc. etc.
– paul
Aug 3 at 0:22
2
2
note that C is pronounced like /tʃ/ or /ts/ in many languages, so Ch is almost the same as C
– phuclv
Aug 3 at 2:11
note that C is pronounced like /tʃ/ or /ts/ in many languages, so Ch is almost the same as C
– phuclv
Aug 3 at 2:11
4
4
I sense some other 25 questions coming in
– PlasmaHH
2 days ago
I sense some other 25 questions coming in
– PlasmaHH
2 days ago
 |Â
show 10 more comments
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
up vote
22
down vote
accepted
ICAO is a phonetic alphabet, so it's all about sounds. English language doesn't have a distinct sound for singular letter "C". You're proposing "Carl", but it's pronounced kɑɹl̩ - with K. Other option would be "cent", but this one is pronounced sɛnt - with S.
"Ch" as in Charlie (ˈtʃɑËÂli) is the only C that sounds (tʃ) distinctively and can be recognized as "C" without any doubt. The fact that's not a singular C but a part of digraph is not relevant. The clarity of the message is.
answered 2 days ago
Agent_L
98359
1
This answer is exactly the same as CrossRoads answer.
– CJ Dennis
yesterday
@CJDennis although the examples make it much easier to understand.
– Tim
14 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
59
down vote
Hard C sounds too much like K. Ch (Charlie) will not be confused with K (Kilo). And soft C sounds too much like S (Sierra).
answered Aug 2 at 19:01
CrossRoads
3,0261314
7
Previous names were: Canada, Casablanca, and Coco (or Coca) before finally settling on Charlie. It is required that the name start with the letter it represents, but not having a sound conflict with another name (although a good idea) is not required.
– CJ Dennis
Aug 3 at 3:21
8
Non-English speakers (especially Germans) or just people who are bad at English spelling might spell "Carl" as "Karl". There's no other way to spell "Charlie."
– Jeffiekins
2 days ago
Wikipedia says "The Allied military radiotelephone spelling alphabets were created prior to World War I and evolved separately in the United States and the United Kingdom—and separately among the individual military services in the two countries—until being merged during World War II. The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the Allied nations calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet"." with Cast, Canteen, Chain, and Cork used earlier.
– CrossRoads
2 days ago
@Jeffiekins: actually, "Czarli" if you were from Poland and knew zero foreign languages, but that still makes 'c' ;) OTOH, if an english-speaker doesn't know this name and overthinks it, he could take it as slavic and write "Tcharlie" - see "Tchaikovsky" (Czajkowski). I bet there are many other ways you could write the sounds of "Charlie" in English
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
....aaand I've just learnt that currently preferred spelling of çðùúþòÑÂúøù would be Chajkovskij or Chaykovskiy, while Tchaikovsky is traditional spelling, kept just because we're used to writing it like that. Well.. I can't argue with it, "Chaykovskiy" looks more natural to me, much more that some idiotisms like "voivodeship"..
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
22
down vote
For the same reason we use niner for nine. The phonetic alphabet took a lot into consideration when they were choosing words including how words are pronounced with different accents. "Charlie" like all the other words was likely chosen due to its unique pronunciation across dialects. It is also a nice short two syllable word.
answered Aug 2 at 20:21
Dave
54k393196
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
22
down vote
accepted
ICAO is a phonetic alphabet, so it's all about sounds. English language doesn't have a distinct sound for singular letter "C". You're proposing "Carl", but it's pronounced kɑɹl̩ - with K. Other option would be "cent", but this one is pronounced sɛnt - with S.
"Ch" as in Charlie (ˈtʃɑËÂli) is the only C that sounds (tʃ) distinctively and can be recognized as "C" without any doubt. The fact that's not a singular C but a part of digraph is not relevant. The clarity of the message is.
answered 2 days ago
Agent_L
98359
1
This answer is exactly the same as CrossRoads answer.
– CJ Dennis
yesterday
@CJDennis although the examples make it much easier to understand.
– Tim
14 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
22
down vote
accepted
ICAO is a phonetic alphabet, so it's all about sounds. English language doesn't have a distinct sound for singular letter "C". You're proposing "Carl", but it's pronounced kɑɹl̩ - with K. Other option would be "cent", but this one is pronounced sɛnt - with S.
"Ch" as in Charlie (ˈtʃɑËÂli) is the only C that sounds (tʃ) distinctively and can be recognized as "C" without any doubt. The fact that's not a singular C but a part of digraph is not relevant. The clarity of the message is.
answered 2 days ago
Agent_L
98359
1
This answer is exactly the same as CrossRoads answer.
– CJ Dennis
yesterday
@CJDennis although the examples make it much easier to understand.
– Tim
14 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
22
down vote
accepted
up vote
22
down vote
accepted
ICAO is a phonetic alphabet, so it's all about sounds. English language doesn't have a distinct sound for singular letter "C". You're proposing "Carl", but it's pronounced kɑɹl̩ - with K. Other option would be "cent", but this one is pronounced sɛnt - with S.
"Ch" as in Charlie (ˈtʃɑËÂli) is the only C that sounds (tʃ) distinctively and can be recognized as "C" without any doubt. The fact that's not a singular C but a part of digraph is not relevant. The clarity of the message is.
answered 2 days ago
Agent_L
98359
ICAO is a phonetic alphabet, so it's all about sounds. English language doesn't have a distinct sound for singular letter "C". You're proposing "Carl", but it's pronounced kɑɹl̩ - with K. Other option would be "cent", but this one is pronounced sɛnt - with S.
"Ch" as in Charlie (ˈtʃɑËÂli) is the only C that sounds (tʃ) distinctively and can be recognized as "C" without any doubt. The fact that's not a singular C but a part of digraph is not relevant. The clarity of the message is.
answered 2 days ago
Agent_L
98359
answered 2 days ago
Agent_L
98359
answered 2 days ago
Agent_L
98359
answered 2 days ago
Agent_L
98359
98359
1
This answer is exactly the same as CrossRoads answer.
– CJ Dennis
yesterday
@CJDennis although the examples make it much easier to understand.
– Tim
14 hours ago
add a comment |Â
1
This answer is exactly the same as CrossRoads answer.
– CJ Dennis
yesterday
@CJDennis although the examples make it much easier to understand.
– Tim
14 hours ago
1
1
This answer is exactly the same as CrossRoads answer.
– CJ Dennis
yesterday
This answer is exactly the same as CrossRoads answer.
– CJ Dennis
yesterday
@CJDennis although the examples make it much easier to understand.
– Tim
14 hours ago
@CJDennis although the examples make it much easier to understand.
– Tim
14 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
59
down vote
Hard C sounds too much like K. Ch (Charlie) will not be confused with K (Kilo). And soft C sounds too much like S (Sierra).
answered Aug 2 at 19:01
CrossRoads
3,0261314
7
Previous names were: Canada, Casablanca, and Coco (or Coca) before finally settling on Charlie. It is required that the name start with the letter it represents, but not having a sound conflict with another name (although a good idea) is not required.
– CJ Dennis
Aug 3 at 3:21
8
Non-English speakers (especially Germans) or just people who are bad at English spelling might spell "Carl" as "Karl". There's no other way to spell "Charlie."
– Jeffiekins
2 days ago
Wikipedia says "The Allied military radiotelephone spelling alphabets were created prior to World War I and evolved separately in the United States and the United Kingdom—and separately among the individual military services in the two countries—until being merged during World War II. The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the Allied nations calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet"." with Cast, Canteen, Chain, and Cork used earlier.
– CrossRoads
2 days ago
@Jeffiekins: actually, "Czarli" if you were from Poland and knew zero foreign languages, but that still makes 'c' ;) OTOH, if an english-speaker doesn't know this name and overthinks it, he could take it as slavic and write "Tcharlie" - see "Tchaikovsky" (Czajkowski). I bet there are many other ways you could write the sounds of "Charlie" in English
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
....aaand I've just learnt that currently preferred spelling of çðùúþòÑÂúøù would be Chajkovskij or Chaykovskiy, while Tchaikovsky is traditional spelling, kept just because we're used to writing it like that. Well.. I can't argue with it, "Chaykovskiy" looks more natural to me, much more that some idiotisms like "voivodeship"..
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
59
down vote
Hard C sounds too much like K. Ch (Charlie) will not be confused with K (Kilo). And soft C sounds too much like S (Sierra).
answered Aug 2 at 19:01
CrossRoads
3,0261314
7
Previous names were: Canada, Casablanca, and Coco (or Coca) before finally settling on Charlie. It is required that the name start with the letter it represents, but not having a sound conflict with another name (although a good idea) is not required.
– CJ Dennis
Aug 3 at 3:21
8
Non-English speakers (especially Germans) or just people who are bad at English spelling might spell "Carl" as "Karl". There's no other way to spell "Charlie."
– Jeffiekins
2 days ago
Wikipedia says "The Allied military radiotelephone spelling alphabets were created prior to World War I and evolved separately in the United States and the United Kingdom—and separately among the individual military services in the two countries—until being merged during World War II. The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the Allied nations calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet"." with Cast, Canteen, Chain, and Cork used earlier.
– CrossRoads
2 days ago
@Jeffiekins: actually, "Czarli" if you were from Poland and knew zero foreign languages, but that still makes 'c' ;) OTOH, if an english-speaker doesn't know this name and overthinks it, he could take it as slavic and write "Tcharlie" - see "Tchaikovsky" (Czajkowski). I bet there are many other ways you could write the sounds of "Charlie" in English
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
....aaand I've just learnt that currently preferred spelling of çðùúþòÑÂúøù would be Chajkovskij or Chaykovskiy, while Tchaikovsky is traditional spelling, kept just because we're used to writing it like that. Well.. I can't argue with it, "Chaykovskiy" looks more natural to me, much more that some idiotisms like "voivodeship"..
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
59
down vote
up vote
59
down vote
Hard C sounds too much like K. Ch (Charlie) will not be confused with K (Kilo). And soft C sounds too much like S (Sierra).
answered Aug 2 at 19:01
CrossRoads
3,0261314
Hard C sounds too much like K. Ch (Charlie) will not be confused with K (Kilo). And soft C sounds too much like S (Sierra).
answered Aug 2 at 19:01
CrossRoads
3,0261314
answered Aug 2 at 19:01
CrossRoads
3,0261314
answered Aug 2 at 19:01
CrossRoads
3,0261314
answered Aug 2 at 19:01
CrossRoads
3,0261314
3,0261314
7
Previous names were: Canada, Casablanca, and Coco (or Coca) before finally settling on Charlie. It is required that the name start with the letter it represents, but not having a sound conflict with another name (although a good idea) is not required.
– CJ Dennis
Aug 3 at 3:21
8
Non-English speakers (especially Germans) or just people who are bad at English spelling might spell "Carl" as "Karl". There's no other way to spell "Charlie."
– Jeffiekins
2 days ago
Wikipedia says "The Allied military radiotelephone spelling alphabets were created prior to World War I and evolved separately in the United States and the United Kingdom—and separately among the individual military services in the two countries—until being merged during World War II. The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the Allied nations calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet"." with Cast, Canteen, Chain, and Cork used earlier.
– CrossRoads
2 days ago
@Jeffiekins: actually, "Czarli" if you were from Poland and knew zero foreign languages, but that still makes 'c' ;) OTOH, if an english-speaker doesn't know this name and overthinks it, he could take it as slavic and write "Tcharlie" - see "Tchaikovsky" (Czajkowski). I bet there are many other ways you could write the sounds of "Charlie" in English
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
....aaand I've just learnt that currently preferred spelling of çðùúþòÑÂúøù would be Chajkovskij or Chaykovskiy, while Tchaikovsky is traditional spelling, kept just because we're used to writing it like that. Well.. I can't argue with it, "Chaykovskiy" looks more natural to me, much more that some idiotisms like "voivodeship"..
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
 |Â
show 1 more comment
7
Previous names were: Canada, Casablanca, and Coco (or Coca) before finally settling on Charlie. It is required that the name start with the letter it represents, but not having a sound conflict with another name (although a good idea) is not required.
– CJ Dennis
Aug 3 at 3:21
8
Non-English speakers (especially Germans) or just people who are bad at English spelling might spell "Carl" as "Karl". There's no other way to spell "Charlie."
– Jeffiekins
2 days ago
Wikipedia says "The Allied military radiotelephone spelling alphabets were created prior to World War I and evolved separately in the United States and the United Kingdom—and separately among the individual military services in the two countries—until being merged during World War II. The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the Allied nations calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet"." with Cast, Canteen, Chain, and Cork used earlier.
– CrossRoads
2 days ago
@Jeffiekins: actually, "Czarli" if you were from Poland and knew zero foreign languages, but that still makes 'c' ;) OTOH, if an english-speaker doesn't know this name and overthinks it, he could take it as slavic and write "Tcharlie" - see "Tchaikovsky" (Czajkowski). I bet there are many other ways you could write the sounds of "Charlie" in English
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
....aaand I've just learnt that currently preferred spelling of çðùúþòÑÂúøù would be Chajkovskij or Chaykovskiy, while Tchaikovsky is traditional spelling, kept just because we're used to writing it like that. Well.. I can't argue with it, "Chaykovskiy" looks more natural to me, much more that some idiotisms like "voivodeship"..
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
7
7
Previous names were: Canada, Casablanca, and Coco (or Coca) before finally settling on Charlie. It is required that the name start with the letter it represents, but not having a sound conflict with another name (although a good idea) is not required.
– CJ Dennis
Aug 3 at 3:21
Previous names were: Canada, Casablanca, and Coco (or Coca) before finally settling on Charlie. It is required that the name start with the letter it represents, but not having a sound conflict with another name (although a good idea) is not required.
– CJ Dennis
Aug 3 at 3:21
8
8
Non-English speakers (especially Germans) or just people who are bad at English spelling might spell "Carl" as "Karl". There's no other way to spell "Charlie."
– Jeffiekins
2 days ago
Non-English speakers (especially Germans) or just people who are bad at English spelling might spell "Carl" as "Karl". There's no other way to spell "Charlie."
– Jeffiekins
2 days ago
Wikipedia says "The Allied military radiotelephone spelling alphabets were created prior to World War I and evolved separately in the United States and the United Kingdom—and separately among the individual military services in the two countries—until being merged during World War II. The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the Allied nations calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet"." with Cast, Canteen, Chain, and Cork used earlier.
– CrossRoads
2 days ago
Wikipedia says "The Allied military radiotelephone spelling alphabets were created prior to World War I and evolved separately in the United States and the United Kingdom—and separately among the individual military services in the two countries—until being merged during World War II. The last WWII spelling alphabet continued to be used through the Korean War, being replaced in 1956 as a result of both countries adopting the ICAO/ITU Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, with the Allied nations calling their usage the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet"." with Cast, Canteen, Chain, and Cork used earlier.
– CrossRoads
2 days ago
@Jeffiekins: actually, "Czarli" if you were from Poland and knew zero foreign languages, but that still makes 'c' ;) OTOH, if an english-speaker doesn't know this name and overthinks it, he could take it as slavic and write "Tcharlie" - see "Tchaikovsky" (Czajkowski). I bet there are many other ways you could write the sounds of "Charlie" in English
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
@Jeffiekins: actually, "Czarli" if you were from Poland and knew zero foreign languages, but that still makes 'c' ;) OTOH, if an english-speaker doesn't know this name and overthinks it, he could take it as slavic and write "Tcharlie" - see "Tchaikovsky" (Czajkowski). I bet there are many other ways you could write the sounds of "Charlie" in English
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
....aaand I've just learnt that currently preferred spelling of çðùúþòÑÂúøù would be Chajkovskij or Chaykovskiy, while Tchaikovsky is traditional spelling, kept just because we're used to writing it like that. Well.. I can't argue with it, "Chaykovskiy" looks more natural to me, much more that some idiotisms like "voivodeship"..
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
....aaand I've just learnt that currently preferred spelling of çðùúþòÑÂúøù would be Chajkovskij or Chaykovskiy, while Tchaikovsky is traditional spelling, kept just because we're used to writing it like that. Well.. I can't argue with it, "Chaykovskiy" looks more natural to me, much more that some idiotisms like "voivodeship"..
– quetzalcoatl
2 days ago
 |Â
show 1 more comment
up vote
22
down vote
For the same reason we use niner for nine. The phonetic alphabet took a lot into consideration when they were choosing words including how words are pronounced with different accents. "Charlie" like all the other words was likely chosen due to its unique pronunciation across dialects. It is also a nice short two syllable word.
answered Aug 2 at 20:21
Dave
54k393196
add a comment |Â
up vote
22
down vote
For the same reason we use niner for nine. The phonetic alphabet took a lot into consideration when they were choosing words including how words are pronounced with different accents. "Charlie" like all the other words was likely chosen due to its unique pronunciation across dialects. It is also a nice short two syllable word.
answered Aug 2 at 20:21
Dave
54k393196
add a comment |Â
up vote
22
down vote
up vote
22
down vote
For the same reason we use niner for nine. The phonetic alphabet took a lot into consideration when they were choosing words including how words are pronounced with different accents. "Charlie" like all the other words was likely chosen due to its unique pronunciation across dialects. It is also a nice short two syllable word.
answered Aug 2 at 20:21
Dave
54k393196
For the same reason we use niner for nine. The phonetic alphabet took a lot into consideration when they were choosing words including how words are pronounced with different accents. "Charlie" like all the other words was likely chosen due to its unique pronunciation across dialects. It is also a nice short two syllable word.
answered Aug 2 at 20:21
Dave
54k393196
answered Aug 2 at 20:21
Dave
54k393196
answered Aug 2 at 20:21
Dave
54k393196
answered Aug 2 at 20:21
Dave
54k393196
54k393196
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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16
I voted to close this, it should be reworded to include the entire NATO alphabet otherwise we are going to have 25 more questions on the subject. The entire NATO alphabet is discussed with great detail and analysis of each letter at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet
– jwzumwalt
Aug 2 at 19:45
7
A: aye. B: bee. C: cerise. E: eye. G: gnat. H: honour. K: knee/knife. O: oestrogen. P: pneumatic. etc.
– Transistor
Aug 2 at 22:51
12
If you are from eastern Europe you would spell "Carl" with a K. Karl Marx, karl Benz (Mercedes) Karl Dönitz, a town in Rhineland, Germany etc. etc. etc.
– paul
Aug 3 at 0:22
2
note that C is pronounced like /tʃ/ or /ts/ in many languages, so Ch is almost the same as C
– phuclv
Aug 3 at 2:11
4
I sense some other 25 questions coming in
– PlasmaHH
2 days ago