I was taken by this amusing article by Oliver Pritchett in a recent Daily Telegraph post. Clearly the positively correct police have missed a trick here.
Something must be done about the international alphabet: the one that goes Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and so on. It is disgracefully inappropriate and it perpetuates sexism every time it is used – by airline pilots, mini-cab despatchers and people at call centres trying to spell your name.
It is totally unacceptable that this alphabet features only one female name, Juliet, woefully outnumbered by Charlie, Mike, Oscar, Romeo and Victor. If that is not bad enough, there’s the blatantly paternalistic Papa.
It’s significant, of course, that Foxtrot and Tango are two dances in which, traditionally, a man takes the lead. Then there’s Golf, a male-dominated sport and one that must fail most inclusivity tests.
I am also unhappy about Alpha and Delta, as they are likely to make people feel excluded if they weren’t fortunate enough to study Greek at school. Alpha may also suggest “alpha male,” of course, while Bravo smacks of un-called for triumphalism. Uniform, meanwhile, has a whiff of distasteful militarism.
Roger that!
The alphabet is also in the news now that the Royal Mint has produced a new set of ten pence coins featuring on each one a letter depicting the best of British. The selected items are as follows:
Each letter represents iconic things or place in Britain
- A – Angel of the North
- B – Bond…James Bond
- C – Cricket
- D – Double Decker Bus
- E – English Breakfast
- F – Fish & Chips
- G – Greenwich Mean Time
- H – Houses of Parliament
- I – Ice-Cream Cone
- J – Jubilee
- K – King Arthur
- L – Loch Ness Monster
- M – Mackintosh
- N – National Health Service
- O – Oak Tree
- P – Post Box
- Q – Queuing
- R – Robin
- S – Stonehenge
- T – Teapot
- U – Union Flag
- V – Village
- W – World Wide Web
- X – X Marks the Spot
- Y – Yeoman
- Z – Zebra Crossing
It's as easy as ABC
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