Whether in movies or on the phone, you’ve probably heard someone say a combination of words that sound completely senseless together, but which actually use the first letters to spell something out.

A male is a ‘mike’. We use letters selected from a standard phonetic, or spelling, alphabet so nobody fumbles for words. Spelling alphabets came about because early users of radios ...

Memorise and practise using the useful alfa bravo charlie-style phonetic alphabet, used worldwide to make it easier to spell words over the radio. That might clear up one confusion, but the best way ...