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How the "NATO phonetic alphabet" was created (23:27) (www.youtube.com)

submitted 2 days ago by sundray@lemmus.org to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world

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From the Rob Words YouTube channel. Here's the video description:

Let’s uncover the secrets of the NATO phonetic alphabet! 🌏 [ad redacted]

The NATO phonetic alphabet is not a phonetic alphabet and wasn't invented by NATO. However, it has a fascinating story to tell. It is the result of years of linguistic experimentation in the wake of the violence of World War II. So let's explore its development, from ALFA to ZULU.

In this episode, we'll uncover the surprising story of how this alphabet – used by everyone from pilots to police officers – came to be. And look at the strange words that almost made the cut.

Thank you very much to Derby Aero Club at Derby Airfield for kindly allowing us to film. You can find out more about them here: https://www.derbyaeroclub.com/

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[–] TheV2@programming.dev 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The origin of "ph" for the "f" sound is that in Classical greek these words were pronounced with an aspirated "ph", which lead to this romanization. Only later they were actually pronounced "f".

So you could say that "ph" to universally communicate "f" is faulty, because it used to be a different sound in the first place.