Re: OT: telephones; was: numeration

On 17 Dec 2004, at 7.49 am, Sally Caves wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
>
>
>> On Thu, Dec 16, 2004 at 12:08:42PM -0500, Ph. D. wrote:
>>> My area got automatic dialing around 1960. I still remember
>>> when I was five years old being taught to call my grand-
>>> parents by picking up the telephone, waiting to hear a
>>> voice say "Number, please," and then saying "221J".
>
> I remember that, too.  And party lines.  You'd pick the phone up, and
> somebody outside your house would be talking to somebody else outside
> your
> house.
What's a party line? Multiple houses sharing the same connection?

> The telephones didn't even have a dial compass.
I can remember those things :) In fact, my sister has a red telephone
with a dial compass though she only keeps it in case the President
needs to call her, gotta keep a line free (with a red telephone
attached) for that! (I can remember when my youngest brother learnt to
use the phone---I think it was one with a dial compass---and he was
terribly concerned: How did Dad get stuck in there? When's he coming
out?)

--
Tristan.

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