(no subject)

[etoile_violette]

When watching TV with dengel3000 on Monday and the phonetic alphabet being mentioned, I was reminded of a conversation I had with someone ages ago where we were trying to think of the worst words to use when spelling things out over the telephone - think silent letters, words that sound like other letters, paired letters that create a new sound and other eccentricities of the English language.

So dengel3000 and I had another go, and here's what we've come up with so far. You have to say them out loud to get the best effect. I'll add more when we think of them - can you guys think of any others?

A for Are (Or Aesop; EDIT: or Aitch - thanks mollydot's husband)
B
C for Cue
D for Double you (EDIT: or Djinn, or Djibouti - thanks bopeepsheep)
E for Eye
F
G for Gnat
H for Heir
I
J (EDIT: for Junta - thanks mollydot's husband; or Jalapeno - thanks baloobas)
K for Knee
L
M for Mnemonic
N
O for Oedipus
P for Psychology
Q for Qat (EDIT: or Qi, as I've just realises 'qat' contravenes the 'word must be relatively well-known in English' rule.
R (EDIT: Rong. Clutching at straws now, but trusty Scrabble dictionary tells me it's an archaic past participle of 'ring')
S
T for Thaddeus (EDIT: or Tsunami - thanks bopeepsheep)
U
V
W for Whore (EDIT: or Wring - thanks mollydot)
X for Xylophone
Y for You
Z


I suppose it's pretty indicative of a geeky Mensa household that the first 'th' word I thought of was 'Thaddeus'. I got laughed at for that, lol.