Who the heck is Ida anyway? Adam-12's radio language
So are you as amused or mystified as I am when hearing Pete or Jim barking out:
"In pursuit, gray sedan, license LINCOLN-XRAY-IDA-FOUR-FIVE-NINE"
Who in the heck says "Lincoln or Ida" for the letters L or I? Well, back when telegraphs and radios were just starting out, there was a phonetic alphabet adopted to help clarify individual letters and it used a lot of place names and people names.
Western Union, or American Radio Relay League alphabet:
Adam, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Easy, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, New York, Ocean, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sugar, Thomas, Union, Victor, William, X-Ray, Young, Zero
The LAPD took this alphabet and modified it for their own use as follows:
LAPD/Police Alphabet
Adam, Boy, Charles, David, Edward, Frank, George, Henry, Ida, John, King, Lincoln, Mary, Nora, Ocean, Paul, Queen, Robert, Sam, Tom, Union, Victor, William, X-Ray, Yellow/Young, Zebra
World wide military units and aviation users have created the most internationally pronounceable alphabet through extensive research to avoid mispronunciation among different country members.
NATO/ICAO/ITU alphabet:
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-Ray, Yankee Zulu
Some police departments use the NATO words, some the LAPD style, just to be even more inconsistent. NYPD uses words closer to the original old style telegraph system just to be old school I guess.
So much for standardization, only poor "Victor and X-Ray" made the cut to the finals of all three.
If you want your own personal phonetic alphabet to confuse telemarketers, try THIS one: http://www.ooblick.com/text/NastyAlphabet.html
"A as in Aye, C as in Chute, E as in Eye, K as in Knight, Y as in You", lol, on and on...