Today's Team VS Team: Alphabetics

I accidentally hit submit before I could point out an error (I believe) in one of the questions near the end. It was an answer. I forget the question but it was something about NATO's alphabet (ex: Charlie, Victor etc.,) , well in the answers it gave a misspelling of "Alpha" as "alfa" (which prompted me to choose Aardvark, though I knew that was wrong too).

I know it seems minor but it isn't for 2 reasons:

1. It's an Alphabet question that is misspelled. Irony anyone? Unless it is spelled "alfa" then I retract.

2. This is on a "challenge" game not just an individual quiz where in hindsight may not be such a big deal. It was a misspelling in an answer.

Correct answers, not only by the person writing the answer but also the person choosing it, are important in such challenges.

I think it said only 52% of people got it right. I bet most, like me, who got it wrong did so because of the spelling.

-Nam

Alfa is correct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

I only know this because the first time I saw that question, I thought it was an error too!

Then I retract.

Though, the article does say "Alpha" as an alternative. I have never seen it spelled "Alfa" 'til today. Even when they (the US Air Force) taught me the entire alphabet, it was "Alpha" drilled in my brain. Luckily, I no longer remember the order, I just remember them individually.

Of course the question did say NATO and not US military but since the rest seems to be the same...

-Nam

The "Alfa" spelling is used because it is more recognizable in international contexts - while an English speaker would instinctively pronounce both spellings the same, this does not hold true for other languages.

Thus, the official, international version is "Alfa" but the "Alpha" version is often taught in English-speaking countries because it's simply more convenient to memorize. It doesn't really make a difference in the end: The alphabet is to be used in spoken conversation only and thus any spelling will work as long as it ultimately results in the correct pronunciation.

I agree with you.



FunTrivia. It messes with your mind.

My apologies.

-Nam

Our quiz used the word for M.

In another website where I submit puzzles and you have to extract a letter for spelling , I fortunately indicated two bottles of liquor to extract the H rather than four dictionaries. Wisky and wiskey also posed a problem but two triangles solved that.