Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Polite Scatology

The Tina Fey movie which opened last week uses a bit of polite scatology for the title: In the phonetic alphabet it stands for "what the fuck" which is an expression indicating total surprise. Actually, some other militarily-derived polite scatological expressions have crept into everyday usage. There's B.S., and you can figure that one out.

Actually, L.S.U. awarded me a B.S. degree too. Or maybe there's a connection. Psych majors get no respect.

Anyway, here's the military phonetic alphabet:

A - Alpha                    N - November
B - Bravo                    O - Oscar
C - Charlie                  P - Papa
D - Dog                       Q - Quebec
E - Easy                      R - Romeo
F - Foxtrot                 S - Sierra
G - Golf                      T - Tango
H - Hotel                    U - Uniform
I - Iota                        V - Victor
J - Juliet                    W - Whiskey
K - Kilo                       X  - X-ray
L - Lima                      Y - Yankee
M - Mike                      Z - Zulu                

Just to confuse people, you can use phonetic letters for other terms besides scatological ones. How about Hotel Charlie for "holy cow."

We could politely express old Army acronyms: Sierra November Alpha Foxtrot Uniform
Foxtrot Uniform Bravo Alpha Romeo, etc. Anyway, those acronyms were themselves ways of somewhat politely engaging in scatology. And, likewise, some new slang:

Do you have a place in your heart for Sierra Lima Uniform Tango? At least this might help further correct spelling.