Intel's Ronler Acres Plant

Silicon Forest
If the type is too small, Ctrl+ is your friend

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Hotel Yankee Foxtrot

Twice this week I have heard women using the phonetic alphabet to communicate over the phone. I can't remember the last time I heard anyone use it. Monday I was talking to an Indian woman working as a temporary employment recruiter. She had a very thick accent. She had to spell her name for me and she used the phonetic alphabet to do so.

This morning I took my wife's SUV into the body shop for an estimate and the estimator used the same technique to communicate some number to someone else on the phone. She did not have an accent. I have tried using the phonetic alphabet to spell things for people who cannot understand me and I have never had much luck. It is usually too far outside their ken for them to pick up on it.

No comments: