Oh Dear, How Are We Suppose To 'keep Up'?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3209587/From-Austerity-Zionist-new-Z-RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN-imagines-new-phonetic-alphabet-Mail-reader-told-using-phrase-Z-Zulu-DWP.html

/// Mail reader Dave Monk, an ex-copper, recently rang the Department of Work and Pensions with a query. He quoted his reference number, using the phonetic alphabet he had learned as part of his police training. ///

/// But when he got to 'Z for Zulu', the assistant stopped him in his tracks.'We're not allowed to say Zulu any more; it's been changed to Z for Zebra,' she told him. ///

[Mamyalynne]

If it were true,then I would simply have stated 'You understood me,so let's move on'.


Mr Littlejohn has got handsomely paid for 'imagining if'- good luck to him I guess.

[vulcan42]

Does this mean the end of Zulu time, used in aviation and the military?

[-Talbot-]

ichkeria
I don't actually believe that story.
For one thing it would have been Mr Monk who would have been using the alphabet, not the person at the other end, so they had no use ZULU or ZEBRA


?

Yes, and when Mr Monk got to 'Z' she stopped him because he said 'Zulu'

A picture of Mr Monk might have helped to make it more convincing.

[retrocop]

They'll be banning "Yankee" next. :-(

[-Talbot-]

Vulcan, the re-make of that battle at Rorke's Drift is going to look more like Lion-King 2 ...what with 4000 Zebras fighting the British.

[retrocop]

janbee
O for ......goodness sake.! Save us from the silly PC Brigade .


Was Oscar the word you were looking for?

[-Talbot-]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

[retrocop]

db
I agree there. :-)

[-Talbot-]

A bit clearer

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/FAA_Phonetic_and_Morse_Chart2.svg

I think the real Q is ...has Little j made this story up?

[andy-hughes]

Talbot - "andy...you have dodged the issue once again. I could have guessed what your opinion on Littlejohn was, but not your opinion on Zulu now being a no-go zone for the phonetic alphabet."

A fair point - I did fail to address the actual point in the OP.

I can see no problem at all in using the word Zulu for 'z' - the entire point of the phonetic alphabet is to use words that cannot be confused easily.

The word is not offensive - indeed someone could carp at the use of the word 'Yankee' far more easily since this can be used as a negative term.

So I think the issue is a non-starter - rather like Mr Littlejohn's columns.

[-Talbot-]

More than a match for L-J
.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmsV1TuESrc

[Ellipsis]

ichkeria> I don't actually believe that story

Nor me. It sounds like a hoax that's been perpetrated, spread or fallen for by Littlejohn.

There's nothing wrong with "Zulu". It's not racist. It's the name of a people, derived from a region of Africa.

The letter "I" is represented by "India" ... nothing wrong with that, either.

[Calibax]

The whole point of the phonetic alphabet is that letters should not be confused so all the words have been carefully chosen to be dissimilar. With bad reception Zebra could be confused with Delta, which is why we use Zulu.

[ichkeria]

"Yes, and when Mr Monk got to 'Z' she stopped him because he said 'Zulu' "

Which is the bit that doesn't ring true: he was the person (supposedly) using the word, so provided he was understood (which he plainly was) there was no need to take it any further.

[retrocop]

Had to laugh last week. My Fridge/Freezer went U/S last week so I rang up Beko as it was within a week of the 24 months guarantee.
I was answered by a sweet Asian sounding lady who introduced herself as Rosemary. When I was asked the model no and then the serial no I answered using the NATO phonetic alphabet and numeric pronunciation. Likewise my Postal Code. She kept thanking me for making my answers clear.
She didn't seem to notice that I had to ask her to repeat each question about three times before I understood what she required from me. :-)

[-Talbot-]

Of course there was a need...she was aghast, offended, shocked (allegedly)

[stuey]

Can you lot still refer to a type of life-jacket as a Mae West, or is that considered sexist?

[retrocop]

History Repeating itself
I like the "Monkey Nuts"

Alphabets[edit]


< 1921 – 1942[2][3]

1942–1956[citation needed]

Ack (?)
Beer
Charlie
Don
Edward
Freddie
George
Harry
Ink
Johnnie
King
London
Monkey
Nuts 1
Orange
Pip
Queen
Robert
Sugar
Toc
Uncle
Vic 2
William
X-ray
Yorker
Zebra Able
Baker
Charlie
Dog
Easy
Fox
George
How
Item
Jig
King
Love
Mike
Nan
Oboe
Peter
Queen
Roger
Sugar
Tare
Uncle
Victor
William
X-ray
Yoke
Zebra

[zebo]

I'm not sure I believe this story, it sounds like one person with an over-active PC gene. One response was from someone working in the same department of the DWP who said that the NATO alphabet was still the norm, no-one had heard of Zebra being used for Zulu.