[self_awareness]

If I want to spell out something over the phone, I'm saying:

Hellen, Eve, Lawrence, Lawrence, Ophelia, Wallace, Ophelia, Robert, Lawrence, Donald.

[stakhanov]

But doesn't it sound so much cooler and so much more badass to say

hotel echo lima lima oscar whiskey oscar romeo lima delta?

Makes the person on the other side of the phone immediately have the kind of respect that one would have for someone who can order air strikes :-D

[quickthrower2]

I’m reminded of an English comedy sketch, one police operator is saying “Tango Whiskey Foxtrot...” on the phone, the detective next to him “Tango.. Tango.. Diet Coke & Fanta”

[falcolas]

Is that first one an "H" or an "E"? Is that second one an "E" or a "V"?

That's the problem with home-made solutions, across any form of lossy medium (aka static or accents), the home-made replacements are not always distinct enough.

[hanoz]

To which the recipient might be thinking E, E... no wait the first E must have been something else then... ah H, so: H E... slow down a bit... why isn't this person using the same phonetics as the other callers...?