On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 01:45:54 -0500, wrote:

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.


I suspect what happened was that operator placed calls were replace by
automatic dial calls. Once you automate it, it just a lot easier for
the designers, manufacturers, installers and repair folks to organize
all the mechanical stuff by using a straight numbering system.
Obviously you can convert your number back to letters if you want to.
Lots of people do convert part of it at least for their 1 - 800
numbers, like 1-800-328-7667 converts to 1-800-Eat-Poop . When I was
working for the AZ DOT I requested that my cell number end with 2368.