now, I realized... how important is NATO phonetic alphabet

Yesterday, Jerry and I were sending parcels at the post office. On the way to the post office, we saw a military aircraft.

I refer it as 'Hercules', while Jerry call them 'Charlie'. We were looking at this particular aircraft. A Lockheed C-130 Hercules. We argued, and came to a agreement, it is called 'Charlie' because of the C-130. Or Charlie (Dash) One Three Zero. I refer them as 'Hercules' because they are the model name.

Growing up, I am very familiar with the NATO phonetic alphabet. Well, it's our father, he just wants us to be ready. Maybe too much that it gives us headache, and little control on what we want to learn.

Back then, I think it is fun but a little bit absurd. Why would you say Alpha instead of A, Bravo instead of B. I came to a reasoning that, probably, it's because of the letter 'Z'. We pronounce it as 'ZED' while Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster call is 'ZEE'. One of the reason why my mother was not keen on buying me a Sesame Street book. She is afraid that my English would turn American.

If it's because of the letter Z, why change the whole alphabet?

It was later, after learning a bit of foreign language, I realized that not everybody call A as 'air' or B as 'bee'. The first time I heard the French alphabet, I couldn't differentiate whether it is the letter itself or the sound of the letter.

Little that I know that Indonesian alphabet is different too. Almost similar to French, particularly their A, B and C. It is funny because I can understand Bahasa Indonesia, but not in depth. Their alphabet are different. www is pronounced as way way way. (in French w is double v. Double V instead of Double U)

All this while, I thought English ABC are universal. Everybody is using the English ABC. Probably because we use English ABC in every language which uses the Roman script.

Imagine if NATO alphabet weren't invented, an Indonesian air traffic controller would say AMWAY to refer MW.