What we think of as a phonetic alphabet is actually far from a traditional International Phonetic Alphabet, a complex system of phonetic transcriptions, that offers us a wider understanding between symbols and sounds that orthography cannot. For example, "bough" and "trough" do not rhyme and are pronounced extremely differently in the English language. However, dialect and phonetics aren't what I am particularly getting at. Instead, I have been thinking about the importance of knowing a "phonetic alphabet" otherwise known as the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet.
Much like the shipping forecast, ask somebody to name as many areas as possible, and the chances are they could tell you three or four, most likely to including Dogger and Fisher. The same goes for the phonetic alphabet, namely Whiskey, Tango or Foxtrot. Ask people why they know these things, and you're likely to receive a distant gaze or the confused response of, "err... I dunno, really."
The fact is, this coding has been a vital part of not only military operation, but civilian industry. It shows us an interesting progression in the expansive network of communication through trading. With a constantly evolving international network, the NATO phonetic alphabet, originally devised for information transmission between allied forces, still has a language relevance. We are at a point where we are becoming divided, we have visual communication through email and SMS and the more primitive telephone conversations. There are points in time where technology cannot serve us efficiently, where human interaction is essential. The possibility that dialogue across language barriers will propose the use of an internationally recognised code because there are letters, words and phrases which sound extremely alike.
If it is true that the phonetic alphabet no longer has a relevance in our technophile society, then perhaps it has a nostalgic quality, a reminder of a time before we could hide behind the comforting secrecy of email, where human interaction was essential and we fought one another with sticks in the local park rather battling interactive dwarf princes in Elwynn Forest. But most importantly, it has accompanied most of us from childhood, a constant, unchanging cultural reference point that goes back further than Coronation Street, Smash instant potatoes and even the Rolling Stones. Very few of us know it, have ever learnt it, but it should be there... somewhere in the back of your subconscious. Just in case!
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