ATIS AND FLT PAPERS SHOWED RWY IN USE AS RWY 14; SO FLC HAD A MINDSET THAT RWY 14 WAS WHERE THEY WERE GOING. BUT; THEN GND CTLR CLRED THEM TO RWY 26. RPTR WAS NOT CLR ON THE TAXI INSTRUCTIONS JUST AS THE FO STARTED THE TAXI CHKLIST. CONSEQUENTLY; RPTR TURNED THE WRONG WAY ON A TXWY; GND CTLR CALLED AND PROVIDED NEW DIRECTIONS.

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ACFT WAS PARKED AT IAB (GATE). ATIS COPIED BY FO (IN MY ABSENCE) INDICATED DEP ON RWY 14. ACCULOAD (WT AND BAL) SHEET; DELIVERED TO COCKPIT SECONDS BEFORE PUSH; INDICATED RWY 14 ALSO. AS WE GOT OUR TAXI CLRNC; I WAS EXPECTING TO HEAR '...TO RWY 14.' INSTEAD; CTLR GAVE US RWY 26 (WHICH I MISSED). I HAD BRIEFED FO TO BACK ME UP ON ALL TAXI CLRNCS BY WRITING THEM DOWN AND ALSO HAVING HIS TAXI CHART OUT; SINCE WHILE TAXIING BOTH OF MY HANDS; AS WELL AS FEET; ARE BUSY. HE COMPLIED; HOWEVER; HE HAD INTERRUPTED OUR ROUTINE BY STARTING TO RUN THE TAXI CHKLIST BEFORE I CALLED FOR IT AND BEFORE THE TAXI CLRNC WAS 100 PERCENT UNDERSTOOD. AS THE ACFT LEFT THE 'N RAMP CONNECTOR' AT NK; I STARTED A SLIGHT TURN TO THE L (AS IF GOING TOWARDS RWY 14) AND ASKED IF WE WERE TO TAXI VIA 'NB' OR 'NA.' THE FO CORRECTED MY MISTAKE REGARDING WHICH RWY BEFORE CLARIFYING THAT I SHOULD TAXI TOWARDS RWY 26. HOWEVER; BY THIS TIME WE HAD GOTTEN SO PREOCCUPIED WITH CORRECTING THE MAJOR MISTAKE THAT WE BOTH FORGOT WHICH TXWY TO TAXI ON (NB OR NA) UNTIL GND CALLED AND ASKED 'WHO WAS THAT ACFT ON NB -- IS THAT XXX?' TO WHICH WE ANSWERED YES. GND SAID JUST CONTINUE AND DID NOT MAKE A MAJOR ISSUE OF IT. I HAVE MORE TO SAY ABOUT THIS PROB THAN WILL FIT ON THIS 1 SHEET. PLEASE CONTACT ME AT YOUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS AND MY INPUT AS TO POSSIBLE CAUSES AND CORRECTIONS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: CALLBACK WAS ACCOMPLISHED AT RPTR'S REQUEST. HIS COMMENTS WERE PERTINENT AND VALID REGARDING TAXI INSTRUCTIONS. THE PRESENT LETTERING SYS ON TXWYS; THOUGH NO DOUBT IS SUPPOSED TO ELIMINATE CONFUSION; IN FACT; ADDS TO CONFUSION. AS AN EXAMPLE; IF THE CTLR SAID TAXI VIA THE INNER TXWY; IT IS EASILY SEEN AND UNDERSTOOD; WHEREAS TAXI VIA NB TO NP REQUIRES HEAD DOWN MAP READING AND THE CAPT CAN'T BE SEARCHING OUT THE RTE. ANOTHER COMPLAINT RPTR VENTED -- WHEN CLRED TO FOLLOW SOME OTHER ACFT WHEN THE OTHER ACFT IS BEHIND HIM. IF CTLR TERMINOLOGY INCLUDED A FEW MORE DETAILS OR MORE POSITIVE INSTRUCTIONS LIKE; 'X HOLD SHORT OF THE NEXT TXWY; LET Y PASS BY AND THEN FOLLOW HIM' WOULD BE CLEARER AND BETTER PROC THAN INSTRUCTIONS TO JUST FOLLOW WITHOUT ANY OTHER DETAILS. RPTR BELIEVES THE TERM 'FOLLOW' SHOULD NOT BE USED UNLESS THE OTHER ACFT IS IN FRONT ALREADY. ANOTHER ITEM RPTR BELIEVES NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IS MORE INFO FROM ATC FOR FLC PLANNING. IE; AN ASSIGNED AIRSPD FOR AN INTERCEPT TO AN APCH THE CTLR SHOULD PROVIDE MORE INFO ON HIS PLAN -- WILL HE PLAN YOU TO INTERCEPT; FLY THROUGH THE FINAL AND WHEN CAN YOU SLOW DOWN. ALL THOSE ARE VALID INPUTS FOR BETTER COM BTWN PLTS AND CTLRS.