Re: OT: telephones; was: numeration

On 17 Dec, Sally Caves wrote:

> Are you thinking of a conference call?  Back then, a "party line" was more
> than one household sharing the same phone number, at a time when people
> were
> making relatively fewer phone calls.
I remember it more like how Ph.D. describes it:

> Each house has its own telephone
>number, but only one house can be using the line at
>a given time. If an outsider calls a particular house, it
>rings only at that house, but if someone at one of the
>other houses picks up the telephone, he can now hear
>(and speak on) that conversation.
    Regarding other people leaving their telephones
off the hook and thus preventing anyone else
from using the phone: I recall  resorting to creative measures
in order to get my phone line back. I'd begin by
making wierd noises with my trumpet, very loudly,
into the phone. If that didn't work, (or if I ran out of
breath before they decided to hang up :-)  ), I'd
set up a feedback loop with a radio
turned up to maximum and leave the squeal going
until the phone was free again! Nasty, but effective!  :-)
(We eventually got a private line and I began to think of
trumpets as instruments of music rather than
instruments of torture [but let's leave my music
teacher's opinions of my playing out of this! ;-)  ] )

Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.

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