| Faraday:
Mnemonic Alphabets |
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For all operators, clear and correct pronunciation avoids errors. When in difficulty over spelling or pronouncing certain words, names or phrases, the standard letter analogy was used. {1} This version was part of the Inland operating call procedures. {2} For Intercontinental (i.e. International) calls, London was replaced by Lucy (see below). {3} A third version was used for calls to the Continent. |
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The Mnemonic Alphabet(s) {1} The Standard Letter Analogy {2} The International/Intercontinental Letter Analogy "Logic dictates that one mnemonic alphabet should be Continental and the other International - the latter word being used in our 'industry' as defining those countries beyond that which CCITT defined as Continental Europe. Intercontinental was a word you just didn't hear in day to day activities." The alphabet {2} was used outside of Continental Europe... This was often referred to as the International alphabet, after all, the International switchrooms (such as 2A) did call the Continent too, for Transits, alternative routes etc. They also had direct manual lines to several European capitals. As you might guess, these mnemonics were primarily geared towards making things easy for calls to the USA. For example, to spell the word king, would be: K King, I Isaac, N Nellie, G George. Applying this was not always as straightforward as you might imagine... Operators on routes which terminated outside of Continental Europe used this alphabet, but for those routes terminating within Continental Europe an entirely different mnemonic was used. For example, when speaking to an operator outside of Europe (which for telephone purposes included North Africa) John would be spoken as "J Jacob, O Oliver, H Harry, N Nellie"... {3} The Continental Letter Analogy ...but a call to within a European destination it would be "Jerusalem, Oslo, Havana, New York."
A '2A operator' recalls... "The use of two mnemonic alphabets was a regular occurrence, because all calls to Canada and Greece were manually connected via London. To Canada 'E Edward' would be used, but to Greece (Continental, but not French speaking) on the same call it would be 'Edison'. Thus even non-linguists in 2A needed to know both systems." Seemingly, the two different alphabets {2} and {3} were used outside of the Inland operating procedures were both called International? |
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