By Teri O.
When we were kids, we had this book called Yo, Millard Fillmore. It was a fun way to learn the names of all the U.S. Presidents in order through creative word play. For example, it started with “Wash a Ton” for George Washington. The accompanying illustration was of laundry piled up around a washing machine in front of the White House. The witty mnemonic devices and hilarious visuals used to describe each president’s name in Yo, Millard Fillmore made the names stick in your mind with ease, and in chronological order besides! It really worked! Unfortunately, they haven’t made any newer editions that include the most recent presidents.
But that gave me an idea. I’ve been trying to learn the phonetic alphabet used by the military. Alpha Bravo Charlie is easy to remember for ABC, but I kept forgetting some of the more unusual ones like India for I and Kilo for K. So I wondered if there was a book for that, and sure enough, I found The Phonetic Alphabet for Kids on Amazon. The full-color illustrations make the images stick in your mind so you can more easily remember the terms that go with them.
Some of the more abstract words in the phonetic alphabet are understandably difficult to translate into pictures, but I think the author/illustrator did a good job. Even for the weirder ones, the weirdness of it is what helps you to remember them.
Even though this is a picture book, and the reading age says “Baby to 12 years,” I think it’s best for older kids and teens. Little kids will have trouble understanding what some of the pictures mean. Like, for A – Alpha it’s an alpha male wolf. E – Echo is a picture of a whale, because whales use echolocation to help them navigate. For Charlie they show a boy, but for Mike they use a microphone. And since it’s a kid’s book, they decided not to show a bottle of whiskey for W, but used a whisk instead!
The Phonetic Alphabet for Kids is a colorful and fun book, and I’d recommend it for anyone – even adults – who want to learn the phonetic alphabet. It worked for me! You never know when the phonetic alphabet may come in handy to avoid confusion in voice communications, especially in noisy environments and over the phone or radio. You can use it as a secret code to send messages to your friends. Or if you have family members in the military, it would be nice to be able to say the letter names like they do.
Here is the complete list from A to Z:
- A – Alpha (AL-fah)
- B – Bravo (BRAH-voh)
- C – Charlie (CHAR-lee)
- D – Delta (DELL-tah)
- E – Echo (ECK-oh)
- F – Foxtrot (FOKS-trot)
- G – Golf (golf)
- H – Hotel (hoh-TELL)
- I – India (IN-dee-ah)
- J – Juliet (JEW-lee-ett)
- K – Kilo (KEY-loh)
- L – Lima (LEE-mah)
- M – Mike (Mike)
- N – November (no-VEM-ber)
- O – Oscar (OSS-cah)
- P – Papa (pah-PAH)
- Q – Quebec (keh-BECK)
- R – Romeo (ROW-me-oh)
- S – Sierra (see-AIR-rah)
- T – Tango (TANG-go)
- U – Uniform (YOU-nee-form)
- V – Victor (VIK-tah)
- W – Whiskey (WISS-key)
- X – X-ray (ECKS-ray)
- Y – Yankee (YANG-key)
- Z – Zulu (ZOO-loo)
How would you illustrate these terms? And who came up with these ideas anyway??? You must admit, some of the examples are pretty odd. For example, why use Quebec instead of Queen for Q?
How the Phonetic Alphabet Came About
Well, I found out that after World War II, the military decided to standardize communication across NATO and Allied Forces. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) developed a word-spelling alphabet based on clarity and international usability. Jean-Paul Vinay, professor of linguistics at the Université de Montréal in Quebec, worked closely with the ICAO to research and develop the new alphabet. So that’s probably how the word Quebec got in there.
The specific rationale behind the terms used for each letter was that “To be considered, a word must:
- Be a live word in each of the three working languages.
- Be easily pronounced and recognized by airmen of all languages.
- Have good radio transmission and readability characteristics.
- Have a similar spelling in at least English, French, and Spanish, and the initial letter must be the letter the word identifies.
- Be free from any association with objectionable meanings.”
[ Source: https://www.governmentattic.org/4docs/ICAO-WordSpellingAlphabet_1959.pdf ]
After extensive testing, the final version was adopted by NATO in 1956, and it remains in use today by military, aviation, and emergency services.
Not Just for Military Use
According to Bolt Flight, an aviation website, the phonetic alphabet has an important use in global commerce.
The design of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet is rooted in precision. Each code word is phonetically unique to prevent misinterpretation. For instance, ‘Mike’ and ‘November’ sound distinctly different, minimizing the risk of overlap. The words are also globally pronounceable, supporting seamless use across different languages and dialects.
This structure is critical not only in aviation and military contexts but increasingly in global commerce, where one misheard letter in a cargo code or port identifier can cause significant delays and financial loss.
For example, “BGL123” becomes “Bravo Golf Lima One Two Three,” clearly conveying each element without ambiguity. In customer service, especially in global call centers or freight forwarding, agents rely on the alphabet to spell out names, references, and addresses accurately.
So even if you’re not going into the military or aviation and want to major in business or supply chain management, it would be beneficial to know the phonetic alphabet. Why not learn it now! Purchase a copy of The Phonetic Alphabet for Kids today!
