[jtheory]

I'm not sure about all security questions, but I have noticed many credit card support lines ask me for my mother's maiden name, and the answer I give is long and not easily spelled but they always confirm -- instantly -- "that's it" and and proceed.

Think about last names, as well... there's huge variety in length, spelling, etc. -- it's poor customer service to force the customer to spell it out letter by letter -- so it's necessarily just displayed there on their screen.