Hi, we're here from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes.

I'm Cody Gough.

And I'm Ashley Hamer.

Today you learn about the complicated history of the NATO phonetic alphabet

and a technique to help you achieve your goals faster.

We'll also answer a listener question about why we eat three meals a day.

We've also got a quick announcement about our show at the end of today's episode, so stay tuned.

Let's set us satisfy some curiosity.

Alpha Sierra Hotel Lima Echo Yankee.

I think you just spelled my name. I did!

Yay!

And I did it using the NATO alphabet.

Now if you're like me, you probably pull random letters out of the air when you're spelling your name on the phone.

Like for me, it's C-O-D-A-S-D-Sant-D-E-Sant Delta, why.

But for the servicemen and women who started using spelling

alphabets back in the early 1900s, the difference between M as in Madagascar

and C is in Casablanca was a life or death distinction. Imagine you're on the radio trying to warn

soldiers of a mustard gas attack. You'd want to make sure they heard mustard and not

custard. So let's talk about the NATO alphabet and it's complicated history.

Just so we're clear there is one official version of the NATO alphabet and it's used all around the world.

According to NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the phonetic alphabet we used today became official in 1956.

It's now the Universal phonetic Alphabet,

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