Quick Overview
It can be easy to mishear words over the telephone, but using a phonetic alphabet with words familiar to your Australian audience can reduce confusion, for example:
- A is for Australia
- B is for Bruce
- C is for Crikey
This article includes the full Australian phonetic alphabet for you to use.
What Is the Australian Phonetic Alphabet?
The Australian Phonetic Alphabet is a way of spelling out letters that can be easily misheard over the telephone.
A classic example of this is how names can be confused. For example, the name “Mickey” sounds very much like “Nicky”. Even asking for clarification can complicate things here, because if you say; “Is that Mickey with an M?”, it still sounds very similar to “Is that Nicky with a N?”
To get around this, the Australian Phonetic Alphabet was developed, and letters are spelled out as words. Hence, A for Australia, B for Bruce, C for Crikey…
You can find the full Australian Phonetic Alphabet below for reference and to share with your teams:
| Letter | Word | Letter | Word | Letter | Word |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Australia | J | Jellyfish | S | Sheila |
| B | Bruce | K | Kangaroo | T | Tinny |
| C | Crikey | L | Lyrebird | U | Uluru |
| D | Dunny | M | Melbourne | V | Victoria |
| E | Emu | N | Nemo | W | Wombat |
| F | Footie | O | Outback | X | X-Ray |
| G | G’Day | P | Perth OR Platypus | Y | Yabby |
| H | Hotel | Q | Queensland | Z | Zulu |
| I | Iffy | R | Roo |
We hope you enjoyed our April Fools’ Day prank edition of the Australian Phonetic Alphabet.
As you may already know, the Standard Phonetic Alphabet used in Australia is actually the NATO Phonetic Alphabet – the same as that used in the UK.
If you are looking for real information on, or printable versions of, the phonetic alphabet – we’ve got you covered, just check out these next:
