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Texans tend to do things a little… well, differently.
While you can probably find a cutting board in the shape of any state, a cursory search shows if you want a waffle iron that shows your state pride, Texas is the one option. It’s one small, but delicious, example.
Texas Standard commentator W.F. Strong suggests Texans could do this a lot more. He has an idea — and he needs your help.
The full transcript of this episode of Stories from Texas is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
I was looking at the NATO phonetic alphabet, which everyone has some familiarity with, just from watching military films or police shows. When officers call in a license plate for instance, for clarity, they will use the NATO phonetic alphabet to transmit the letters. This provides for an assured clarity and speed of messaging. No misunderstandings. For instance, if the plate in question is a vanity plate that says GYMRAT, they’ll call it in and say, “We have an APB for a white Tesla, license plate: golf-yankee-mike-romeo-alfa-tango.”
I was thinking it would be cool to have a similar alphabet, just for Texas, using Texcentric terms. I have had some difficulty creating a final version because there are so many good options per letter. I’ll let you in on this work, which is in progress, and maybe some of y’all can help me think of more appropriate words for the Texas Phonetic Alphabet. Here we go:
A is Alamo. Don’t think you can do better than that. Remember the Alamo.
B is Brisket, but could be Bluebonnet. Could be Buc-ee’s.
C as in Chili, Cowboy or Crockett.
D Dallas, Big D, but also Desperadoes = waiting for a train. If you know, you know.
E for Enchiladas
F Football. Or Fajitas. Hard to get away from food.
G Guacamole. See? Or Goliad. Maybe Guadalupe.
H H-E-B, or hail.
I Icehouse or Iraan – Texas that is.
J Jalapeno or Jacinto.
K Kolache
L Longhorn, Lukenbach, Luling.
M Mesquite.
N Nacodoches or Nachos.
O Oil, Opossum.
P Pecos.
Q Quail or Quicksand. Old Westerns convinced me I’d be trapped in quicksand quite often in my adult years.
R Rodeo or Rattler.
S Shiner, Space X?
T is for Texas, isn’t it?
U as in Houston. Tempting. Uvalde? Utopia?
V Vaquero or Venison.
W Waxahachie. Could be Whataburger
X XIT Ranch, or as in Dos Equis.
Y Y’all, Yonder.
Z ZZ Top.
As I said, it’s a work in progress, but it’d be fun to use the new system on our first example: GYMRAT. License Plate: Guacamole, y’all, mesquite, rodeo, Alamo, Texas. You can try your hand at this if you have a spare hour. You could make them all foods, all Texas city names, all famous Texans or famous bands. But the real challenge is that they are, for phonetic efficiency, supposed to be two syllable words.
I’m drwfstrong@gmail. com – let me know what you come up with? That’s Dallas-Rodeo-Waxahachie-Football-Shiner-Texas-Rodeo-Oil-Nacadoces-Guacamole at gmail.com
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
