[Scan-DC] Creative Phonetic Spelling

[Bruce Harper]

It wasn't Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" song, but it was close. Apparently
one of the Blacksburg Transit drivers (who are mainly Virginia Tech
students) is a very good chemistry major. He was relating to base about a
found ID on his bus and provided the phonetic spelling of the last name
using elements from the periodic table (and not common ones, either). Base
asked him to repeat the spelling, which he rattled off quickly without
missing a beat. While his method probably wouldn't pass muster in a public
safety setting, there were chuckles heard in the background when base
acknowledged.

It did sound better than some of the other local dispatchers, who haven't
quite grasped plain talk and dispatch deputies to calls such as "10-32 gun"
and the like.

Bruce in Blacksburg