Central to our identity, spoken or written, words connect us, helping us say what we think and be understood. The strength of words has the power to make us happy – or sad. The first internationally recognized phonetic alphabet was created by NATO in 1956. A for Alpha and B for Bravo are known by most, but most of us don’t know the other letters, breaking our connection with others just when we want to get our message across. Many letters are a throw-back to earlier times, and don’t represent our search for connection and simplicity in today’s world.

Etisalat today thanks the traditional phonetic alphabet for its long years of service, and called upon UAE residents to select happy words to replace the letters. This will result in the world’s first ‘Happy Alphabet’, consisting of happy, friendly and simple words that resonate with people from all the cultures that call the UAE home.

We put the creation of the ‘Happy Alphabet’ into the hands of every UAE resident by asking them to decide between a choice of words representing each letter of the phonetic alphabet. What better way to celebrate International Happiness Day than to say hello to a new era where spelling out words can be fun and happy experience? Since humans first walked the earth, words are what we have used to communicate our emotions and desires as well as navigate our basic needs. We believe there is no better place than the UAE, ranked as the happiest country in the Arab World for the fourth consecutive year and, to give rise to a new alphabet that will make everyone happy when they use it.

The words for ‘Happy Alphabet’ were chosen by customers through a voting campaign that started on social media. Etisalat customers had the chance to vote for their favorite happy words and won Smile points along the way. Etisalat gave away 2.6 million Smiles points during the voting period. For more information, customers can visit Etisalat UAE Facebook or Etisalat UAE Instagram.