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When I was young, phone numbers has a WORD at the beginning.
If you're over 60, you'll probably remember this:
For example:
Hilltop5-5555 = hi5-5555 which is 445-5555
Spring2-5555 = sp2-5555 which is 772-5555
Worth8-5555 = wo8-5555 which is 968-5555
Orchid3-5555 = or3-5555 which is 673-5555
Victory1-5555 = vi1-5555 which is 841-5555
Tiger4-5555 = ti4-5555 which is 844-5555
These seemed to make it easier to remember phone numbers, and the words
were usually simple words that were easy to remember. The word was
assigned by the phone company. It seems they stopped doing this around
the mid 1960's. I wonder why they stopped?
Anyone know the reason?
Of course you can assign your own words. But no one will know what
you're talking about unless they are at least 60 years old.
For example,
762----- can be SOund2 or POny2 or SOuth2 ROund2, POlice2 etc.....
536----- can be LEmon6 or JElly6 or KEndra6 .... and so on....
If your number is 536-1234 Just tell your friends to call LEmon6-1234.
http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/Recommended.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange_names
As demand for phone service grew in the post-World War II period, it was
foreseeable that it would exceed the addressing capacity of the existing
system of using memorable telephone exchange names as prefixes for telephone
numbers. Several letter combinations had no pronounceable or memorable names
and could not be used. Several North American area codes were split to
enable reuse of numbers. However, as the growth accelerated, the Bell System
decided to switch to all-number calling (ANC) and to deprecate the use of
exchange names. This extended the usable numbering plan and only two area
code splits became necessary between 1962 and 1981. All-number calling was
phased in slowly starting in 1958. Most areas had adopted it fully by the
late 1960s, though it did not become universal until the 1980s. The Bell
System published and distributed area code handbooks yearly which compiled
the towns available for calling using an area code.
The transition was slow in its implementation, taking the better part of the
1970s and even into the early 1980s to complete. Thus, telephone exchange
names were still in use with telephone numbers well after the introduction
of area codes.