[CQ-Contest] Phonetics

[Stuart Santelmann KC1F]

> What I hate is when you simply say "Minnesota" and the guy on the other 
> ends says "OK, Minnesota, MI, right?". No, not right, it's MN. MI is a 
> different place. Now I've added at least one more go-around with this QSO 
> that's completely unnecessary and a huge waste of time. I've resolved to 
> say "Mike November" and be done with it.
>
> 73 Steve K0SR
>

I don't know if my perceptions have changed over my 36 years of contesting, 
but I think people's ability to recognize state and section names without 
phonetics has definitely gone downhill.  It increasingly seems that DX 
stations in the ARRL DX contest need the two letter state abbreviation said 
phonetically (two syllables longer for me than saying "New Hampshire"), and 
can't recognize the state name said in plain English.  Maybe the 
dumbing-down of America and lack of knowledge of geography has spread 
worldwide.  The skill needed in the example above is the same skill required 
to succesfully address a letter if someone told you the state name verbally. 
Maybe we just have to be resigned to "loosing" this battle.  OTOH, maybe "I 
could care less"...

Stu KC1F  in New Hampshire, not "New Jersey".