The school where smiling will become compulsory

[Replies From View]

Often when I use the correct phonetic alphabet I'll get a "Oooh - Hark at Vice Admiral Substance over here" kind of response. I mean, it's really not that difficult to learn. I learnt it when I was wearing shorts in cubs. 28 years old I was etc.

The "B for Bertie" particularly annoys me because a) It sounds like "D for dirty" and b) Who the hell is called Bertie in the 21st Century?

I refuse to believe loads of people are saying "Bertie" though.  What they're doing is saying the first word that comes to their mind beginning with the letter B.  Not every single person doing this is going to say "Bertie" are they.

[Replies From View]

It's 26 words. It's really, really easy to remember.

Pointless though, because the thing about words is they all start with a letter, creating loads of options when you need to give an example of a word that starts with a specific letter.



Also, if I said "N for nettle" and the person on the other end said "F FOR FETTLE DID YOU SAY" I'd assume they were deliberately taking the piss.  That's the same kind of person who'd respond to "B FOR BRAVO" with "DID YOU SAY C FOR CARGO" so it really makes no difference whether you use the arbitrary official system or not.

[Kankurette]

Young people get a bad press and in my experience, they are often polite to a fault. Perhaps if the rude old fuckers I keep encountering set more of an example, the young people who are slow on the uptake might get the idea.

I would agree with this. Some of the rudest, nastiest people I've encountered have been over 60.

PASS THE SALT CUNT

dance for it, funny little man!

Yeah, no. I worked in the service industry, I'm not going to start treating service staff like dirt just because it's ~liberating~.

[Johnny Yesno]

Also, if I said "N for nettle" and the person on the other end said "F FOR FETTLE DID YOU SAY" I'd assume they were deliberately taking the piss.

I have to say, you've picked one of the worst examples to defend the point. N for nettle would sound exactly like M for metal/mettle on the phone. You deserve to have your water company launch an airstrike at you.

[Johnny Yesno]

I would agree with this. Some of the rudest, nastiest people I've encountered have been over 60.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I had an old cunt say he hoped I would die from C19 because I didn't show the appropriate deference and move away from him while I was negotiating a corner in a flight of steps on a footpath.

Not had that from any young people yet, even drunken twats.

[Dusty Substance]

I refuse to believe loads of people are saying "Bertie" though.  What they're doing is saying the first word that comes to their mind beginning with the letter B.  Not every single person doing this is going to say "Bertie" are they.

Most of my jobs over the last 20 years have mostly comprised of phone calls and in my experience the "B for Bertie" thing happened way more than you realise. Look, I know there are worse things in the world to get irritated by but I just feel clear communication makes things easier for everyone involved.

I'd also suggest teaching very basic sign language to school kids too. I learnt the BSL alphabet as a kid and can still remember it 30 years later.

Anyway, I've got to go - I have an airstrike to co-ordinate.

[who cares]

At the beginning of the pandemic, I had an old cunt say he hoped I would die from C19 because I didn't show the appropriate deference and move away from him while I was negotiating a corner in a flight of steps on a footpath.

Not had that from any young people yet, even drunken twats.

Old cunt, get out of my way
Your journey home is going astray
You smell of mould, cunt
'Cos you're so old, cunt

Alright cheers

[Kankurette]

At the beginning of the pandemic, I had an old cunt say he hoped I would die from C19 because I didn't show the appropriate deference and move away from him while I was negotiating a corner in a flight of steps on a footpath.

Not had that from any young people yet, even drunken twats.

At least he'll be dead soon.

[Midas]

Yeah, no. I worked in the service industry, I'm not going to start treating service staff like dirt just because it's ~liberating~.

I can't believe it. "PASS THE SALT CUNT" is out of order?

[Paul Calf]

PLZ and THX is ideology running amok. Be rude as fuck. Free yourself!

Excerpt from Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber.

Hmm. I've got that book but haven't started it yet. I don't think I'll bother now. He seems overly concerned with the etymology of these words and not at all concerned with how they're actually used today.

[Paul Calf]

It's like when someone says 'nitty-gritty' (not that many people say it any more because it's a silly, ugly, obsolete idiom) and some fucking smart-arse pulls them up on it:

"OOH THAT'S RACIST DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT WORD ACKSHUALLY MEANS EH HITLER?

[Dr Rock]

If this had been my school I would have burned it to the ground.

If I had a child at this school I would tell them to burn it to the ground.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

If this had been my school I would have burned it to the ground.

If I had a child at this school I would tell them to burn it to the ground.

Sophie Ellis-Bexter plans rewrite.

[All Surrogate]

Excerpt from Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber.

Hmm. I've got that book but haven't started it yet. I don't think I'll bother now. He seems overly concerned with the etymology of these words and not at all concerned with how they're actually used today.

It was a while ago now, but when I read it, I found it very interesting, informative and though-provoking.

[beanheadmcginty]

The opening sentence of that is bollocks though. I lived in America for a year and one of the things I first noticed is how rude the cunts are and how they barely ever say please or thank you.

[Johnny Yesno]

PLZ and THX is ideology running amok. Be rude as fuck. Free yourself!

Excerpt from Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber.

That's not what that extract is saying at all. He's arguing that systems of credit and debt form the basis of politeness.

Hmm. I've got that book but haven't started it yet. I don't think I'll bother now. He seems overly concerned with the etymology of these words and not at all concerned with how they're actually used today.

I've not read it yet but the lectures on Youtube from when he was promoting it are really interesting. I think you'd be making a mistake not to read it because of one misunderstood extract.

[Midas]

That's not what that extract is saying at all. He's arguing that systems of credit and debt form the basis of politeness.

No shit!

[Johnny Yesno]

No shit!

Shit!

[Midas]

There's been a little confusion over what I meant so I'd just like to clarify that I will not be clarifying my remarks. Thank you.

[Milo]

Who says "b for bravo" anyway? The whole point of the phonetic alphabet word choices is partly that they're words with few things that sound like them and also words that are rarely said outside specific contexts. Hence if you say "bravo" to a callcentre it's obvious you're not effusively praising their call handling but giving the first letter of your postcode.

This country.

[drummersaredeaf]

I dread moving as my current postcode contains Quebec and Whisky and they're nice and easy to remember.

[Dex Sawash]

I have to give 17 character VINs to parts people on phone a few times a day so I am really good with NATO alphabet but occasionally completely misfire, unable to even find any word with the target letter.

Yankee, Victor, one, Sierra, uhhhhhh something that begins with W, five, nine, Delta, two, etc

[Kankurette]

I only really do it with the letters M, N, F and S because they get easily confused.

[Zetetic]

I have a Ruby script that uses the macOS speech engine to make a fake Scottish woman do it for me.

(Handles non-Latin Unicode characters as well, badly, by reading the character names.)

[rectorofstiffkey]

I have to give 17 character VINs to parts people on phone a few times a day so I am really good with NATO alphabet but occasionally completely misfire, unable to even find any word with the target letter.

Yankee, Victor, one, Sierra, uhhhhhh something that begins with W, five, nine, Delta, two, etc

I'm terrible.  I had to find something starting with L once and I floundered, panicked and then shouted "Llama!" down the phone, my addled brain concluding that something that started with two L's would be superior to something with just the one.  The bloke at the other end paused for a long time and then said What. The. Hell. with a tone somewhere between irritation and loathing.  I saw his point.

[Replies From View]

I have to say, you've picked one of the worst examples to defend the point. N for nettle would sound exactly like M for metal/mettle on the phone. You deserve to have your water company launch an airstrike at you.

I wasn't wanting to be this blunt, but we are talking about people whose entire job is apparently to listen on telephones yet they can't manage.


Other office jobs exist for deaf/distracted people if that's what they aspire to.  Filing, photocopying, loads.

[Milo]

I only really do it with the letters M, N, F and S because they get easily confused.

I once worked for 118 118 and can say that accents make all the difference. There's varieties of Scots where each a, e, i, o and u could be anything when asking how something is spelled.

[greencalx]

Yankee, Victor, one, Sierra, uhhhhhh something that begins with W, five, nine, Delta, two, etc

I'm this situation I would not be able to think of any word beginning with W other than "wanker" and would spent my time trying to decide if I could get away with saying it or not.

[Replies From View]

"Double-u"

"Sorry could you repeat that please?  It sounds like ess or maybe em?"

"Double-u"

"Could you tell me a word that starts with the letter?"

"Not off the top of my head, sorry."

"Ok, I'm so sorry I couldn't type your words today.  Bye."

[Johnny Yesno]

I have a Ruby script that uses the macOS speech engine to make a fake Scottish woman do it for me.

I BET YOU DO ZET YOU DIRTY OLD BOLLOCKS. I BET YOU FUCKING DO.