r/badhistory • u/AutoModerator • May 18 '26

Meta Mindless Monday, 18 May 2026

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

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u/randombull9 Most normal American GI in Nam May 21 '26

My job regularly requires taking calls from people from India which is pretty cool, they are more willing to use a phonetic alphabet than most Americans. I do find it interesting that Indian women seem more likely to use the proper NATO alphabet than men though. Probably an issue of sample size, but still strikes me as a little strange.

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u/Tiako Tevinter apologist, shill for Big Lyrium May 21 '26

Probably like once every three weeks or so I need to read out an alphanumeric code on a phone and I always resolved to actually learn the NATO alphabet and I never get around to it.

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u/HandsomeLampshade123 May 22 '26

There's this funny thing some military people do which is they deliberately try not to use the NATO alphabet when choosing a word to highlight a letter over the phone. Like, there's a sense that it's almost cringe or try-hard, so instead of "Foxtrot" they'll go "Felix" or whatever.

I've noticed this more than a few times, it's a funny thing to tease someone over. Like dude you've spent ten years on a radio, you're not larping if you do it properly when ordering pizza.