Roger That! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alfa

Alfa, rather than Alpha, is used because the ph sound in English is not common to several other languages. The 31+ prevalent languages represented by NATO members are taken into account, as well as their alphabets, in order to make transmissions clear. Able was used by the US Navy during WWII. Almond can be pronounced at least two different ways, and clarity is most important in transmissions.

Answer: Bravo

Bravo's the word, although some use "Brava" for a female singer. In NATO, 'Stop' is used to indicate a period, while 'decimal' is used as a number distinction. Yes is 'Affirmative', while no is 'Negative'.

Answer: Charlie

Charlie it is. Conrad would not work well as it's possible to mistake the N sound for an M sound. The word for help is 'mayday' from the french 'm'aidez' = help me.
During the Vietnam war, the North Vietnamese were often referred to as V.C., short for Viet Cong. The C in V.C. was Charlie, which became a nickname for the opposition.

Answer: Delta

Delta, as in the Mississippi delta, is so named because a river delta tends to be triangle shaped.
Acknowledgment of a transmission is 'Roger'. 'Over' indicates the end of a transmission, and 'Out' indicates signing off.

Answer: Echo

Europa is open to different pronunciations, as is Eurydice, and both can sound as though they begin with the letter U. The poor nymph, Echo, faded away with grief, but her voice is still heard.

Answer: Foxtrot

Fandango can be misunderstood. The Frug was not around when the military alphabets were constructed. Fantasia is an early animated Disney film.

Answer: Golf

Go Fish is a card game. Gymnastics might be difficult in a spacesuit and is rather long for a code word. Gizmo is another name for a Dooflodgie or Thingee, or whatever you can't remember the name of. It would be okay for code except that the Z sound might be mistaken for S.

Answer: Hotel

Hotel would be the choice. 'House' is a possible answer, but not great for code, as the S and Z sounds are often too close for comfort. For purposes of conformity and clarity, the number system is generally: zero, wun, too, tree, fo-wer (two syllables), fife, six, se-ven, ait, nin-er. Larger numbers are made by putting these together, as 'wun zero' for the number ten. 'Hundred' and 'Tousand' are also used, the h being left out of the latter.

Answer: India

India is a simple three syllable word, and rarely mispronounced. Do you say 'I ran' or 'Ihrahn' or 'Ihran'? Israel is pronounced by some with two syllables, by others with three. Iceland is more easily misheard than India.

Answer: Juliett

During the testing of several nationalities, it was decided to add an extra 't' to Juliet so that languages like French would not drop the one t and pronounce it Juli-ay.

Answer: Kilo

Although the U.S. never converted to the metric system, which is far simpler than the one in use, 'kilo' (as an abbreviation for kilogram) is extensively used. Keno and Kendo are games. Kanga is the mother of Roo in "Winnie The Pooh".

Answer: Lima

Pronounced 'LEE ma' rather than 'LIE ma', the name is the capital of Peru. London is the capital of the U.K., Lorenzo-Marques used to be the capital of Mozambique, and Lilllehammer is a city in Norway, where Oslo is the capital.

Answer: Mike

Sure it's Mike. Short and sweet and easy to say.
The number code that is sometimes used is similar to Esperanto: nadazero, unaone, bissotwo, terrathree, kartefour, pantafive, soxisix, setteseven, oktoeight, novenine(r). This system is not used as much as the simpler one: wun, too, tree, fower, fife, six, seven, ait, niner, zeero.

Answer: November

Of course, it's turkey month with good old L-Tryptophan to put you in a drowsy state after that big dinner. The letter 'N' is seldom followed by a 'B', but 'M' often is, so there should be no problem in understanding this word. Okay, Canberra leaps to mind, but there aren't many! Cranberries, of course, to go with dinner, but that's about it. If you think of others, let me know. Or not.

Answer: Oscar

It's Oscar, just Oscar. We have Oscar Wilde, Oscar Meyer, Oscar Peterson, and Oscar Levant to name a few.

Answer: Papa

It's Papa, as in Papa John's Pizza, Papa Hemingway and Papa Doc.

Answer: Quebec

It is pronounced 'keh BEK' rather than 'kwee BEK'. This came up as the most agreed upon recognizable Q word. Quezon is in The Phillipines, Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, and there is a Quincy is the state of Massachusetts, but the natives pronounce it 'QWIN zee'.

Answer: Romeo

Romeo is easy to say and to remember. Shakespeare's works are known all over the world. Romeo is also an expression for a man who deems himself a great lover.

Answer: Sierra

Sierra means mountain in Spanish, and is used in many geographical names around the world. "Sierra Madre" was a Bogart film. Sierra Nevada is where the Donner Party was stranded before being rescued. Sierra Leone is a country in Africa.

Answer: Tango

The tango has been a popular ballroom dance for ages, and is usually performed in a very precise way. The other dances listed would not be very good for code, and are not really passionate. The twist, in particular, could be twisted.

Answer: Uniform

Almost everyone wears underwear. There's even a Slatin (Silly Latin) adage for it: 'Semper ubi sub ubi' which translates as 'Always where under where' - it's nonsense in Latin, but when you say it, it sounds correct in English. You know what a unicorn is, and Unalaska was just to see if you're still awake.

Answer: Victor

It's Victor, as in Mr. Mature, Hugo, Herbert, and Frankenstein.

Answer: Whiskey

It's whiskey with an e, although it's pronounced the same without it.

Answer: X-ray

Xerox was a copyrighted name, although it has become synonymous with copy. The -x ending of Xerox could just as well be -ks, and Xerox is pronounced ZEE rocks.

Answer: Zulu

Zanzibar and Zambezi are also African, but don't lend themselves well to verbal code. Ziggurat is an ancient Mesopotamian temple structure with stairs built in for climbing to the temple at the top.
Why was Y left out, you ask. Why not? There are 25 questions in the quiz, and we have 26 letters in the alphabet, that's why. Why Y? Well, it had to be one of them, and it's usually X or Z, and frankly they're tired of it.
O, Y is for Yankee in NATO.