Whiskey foxtrot tango

Today I set about calling my credit card companies to change my name and mailing address in their systems. (I also canceled all my store credit cards, go budget go!) I'd called several credit card companies by the time I got to my American Express card. I told the customer service representative that my new street was Tremont. She said, "Tremont, T as in train, R as in riddle, A as in apple, Y as in yarn, M as in monkey, O as in ostrich, T as in train?"

Uh-oh.

"Um, that's not quite right," I began.

"Could you spell it for me?" she asked.

That's what I was afraid of. "Uh, sure. It's, ummmm, T as in..." Pause. Think think think. "Um, T as in..." Longer pause. Think harder think harder think harder...

"Ma'am?"

"I can't think of a word," I admitted, feeling sort of mentally uncoordinated. "I'm sorry. It's just really hard to think of words that start with those letters on the spot. How do you do that? Is there, like, a special code?"

She laughed. In a kind way, not a really mean and crappy way. "It just takes practice. That's alright. Spell it out normally and we'll get it this time."

Whew. "Okay, great. Because I can't think of an R word either. Do you get a cheat sheet?"