Tango — NATO Phonetic Alphabet for T

Tango shares its name with the ballroom dance, a coincidence it has in common with Foxtrot — the only two words in the whole alphabet with dance-name overlaps — but the resemblance played no part in why either word was chosen; both simply tested as clear, pronounceable entries for their letters.

Its maritime signal flag, raised on its own, means "keep clear of me, I am engaged in trawling" — a working notice from a fishing vessel to other traffic nearby, rather than a distress or status signal.

The two dance-name words don't even share a common origin: the tango developed in the working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and Montevideo in the late 19th century, while the foxtrot emerged independently in the United States roughly two decades later, so their shared presence in the alphabet is simply two unrelated dance names that both happened to be clear, testable words. The dance itself later gave English the idiom "it takes two to tango," a phrase now used far outside any ballroom or radio context.