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Default What ever happened to the WORDS used in phone numbers?

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.

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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


I don't think we need the middle step, but maybe I'm smarter than the
rest of them.

These seemed to make it easier to remember phone numbers, and the words


Especially in Chicago, where the exchanges were MIdway, HYde Park maybe,
and a couple others I forget that related to the neighborhood.

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?


I'm guessing because some pairs of numbers had no good words to go with
them, and they didn't think we could handle it to have a mix of words
and numbers. As the head of AT&T said, "You can't handle it!"

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....


My exchange is WAllabee-2. I really should try that. But I need to
meet someone who doesn't know my number. .... I got a call today from
a guy I haven't talked to since his wedding, 31 years ago. He got my
number from WhitePages.com . We talked for an hour.

He had been looking in Facebook, but I'm not there under my real name.
He's there but only under his first and middle names, so why he thought
I'd be there, I don't know.

If your number is 536-1234 Just tell your friends to call LEmon6-1234.


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.
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On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:59:06 -0400, micky
wrote:


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.


When I was REAL young, my parents phone was on a "party line". Sometimes
I'd pick up the phone, and the other party would be talking. I still
dont understand how that worked. I assume the other party had a
different phone number. My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires. My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.


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Default What ever happened to the WORDS used in phone numbers?

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:36:30 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:59:06 -0400, micky
wrote:


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.


When I was REAL young, my parents phone was on a "party line". Sometimes
I'd pick up the phone, and the other party would be talking. I still
dont understand how that worked. I assume the other party had a
different phone number.


Yes, somehow they would have a different ring, I think. You were
supposed to only answer your own ring.

When we moved back to Indy and my mother signed up for the phone, the
customer service person said she could get a party line with no other
party on it, so she'd save money with no inconvenience. I'm sure we were
not the only ones who got that.. And I think we had that for the whole
8 years we were there. But maybe we had to change to a private line
eventually and she didnt' mention it.

My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires. My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.


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Default What ever happened to the WORDS used in phone numbers?

On Monday, June 1, 2015 at 1:46:20 AM UTC-5, 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.


Offhand, I'd say it had something to do with data entry methods and the need for standardized data in the early computer age. The poor early computers were quite literal when it came to I/O. Imagine trying to input alphanumeric phone numbers into a modem or auto dialer. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Computer Monster
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Default What ever happened to the WORDS used in phone numbers?

On Monday, June 1, 2015 at 2:36:56 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:59:06 -0400, micky
wrote:


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.


When I was REAL young, my parents phone was on a "party line". Sometimes
I'd pick up the phone, and the other party would be talking. I still
dont understand how that worked. I assume the other party had a
different phone number. My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires. My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.


The mechanical ringers on party line phones responded to a particular ringer frequency. The standard ringer signal is 90 volts AC at 20 cycles.
On a party line, each party's phone ringer responded to a specific ringer frequency. Because the filtering wasn't perfect, you would always hear a slight ding on your phone when another party was being called. My family's phone on our farm was a party line. A consistent problem the rural phone companies had was shotgun pellets from dove hunters guns puncturing the overhead phone cables which were lead sheathed and pressurized with nitrogen to exclude moisture. I loved living out in the country but rural living had problems quite different from city life. 8-)

Uncle Country Monster
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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.


When we were young, if the middle digit of the first 3 digits was a 0
or a 1, then it was an area code. All area codes had a 0 or 1 as the
middle digit and all central office prefixes had a 2 thru 9 as the
middle digit. Only 2 thru 9 had letters on the standard dial/keypad.
When they started running out of prefixes in big cities, they dropped
the use of letters. Much later, they started running out of area
codes that met the 0 or 1 rule, so they changed to a computerized
system with lists of valid area codes and prefixes. Now, the 0/1 rule
is completely gone.

Regarding party lines mentioned by others, they were indeed used to
save wires. It cost a lot of money to run a pair of copper wires from
a home all the way to the local central office up to five miles away.
When phones changes from a luxury item to a necessity, it took time to
run all those new wires, too. Someone mentioned listening for your
special ring. However, there was an interim step where you shared a
line with others, but your phone didn't ring unless the call was for
you. That was implemented by putting the signal on just one of the
two normally balanced (neither wire grounded) phone wires. One home's
bells were connected from "red" to ground while the other home's bells
were connected from "green" to ground. The actual call took place on
the balanced red/green pair for both parties. Using a twisted pair
balanced line avoided hum and interference.

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On Monday, June 1, 2015 at 2:46:20 AM UTC-4, 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 would guess that using words for the exchange part of
the number goes back to the days when there was an operator
that actually plugged wires together to make the connection.
So, there was an operator or operators for Hilltop5 and
Hilltop was the local neighborhood it served. As they were
replaced by the strowger switch, then by electronic switches,
more and more exchanges came into play, using words made
less sense. It's what's happening with area codes today.
Twenty years ago, area codes were pretty good indicators of
where the party was located. If you saw 212, you knew it
was Manhattan. Now, with VOIP, cell phones, etc
that significance is greatly diminishing.
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wrote in message
...
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.


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Our no. (in Chgo) when I was growing up was SPring4-5150. Ma and Pa (in WI) had a party line and you only needed to dial the last 5 numbers. Years ago, we had dial-up internet, our copper pair failed on 2 occasions (they would just assign another pair. ^L^o^L^
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On 6/1/2015 7:48 AM, Robert Green wrote:

Before anyone has a canary, there are still places that do things
the old way and you can dial a neighbor with only 7 digits.


Up until the 90's, in our town you just dialed the last 5 digits on
local calls.



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On 06/01/2015 07:48 AM, Robert Green wrote:

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?


Maybe the *******s wanted to charge extra for using a word prefix but the

FCC wouldn't let them?

Probably ran out of 2 letter combos that made sense as part of a larger
word. "KK" or "WX" would be hard to assign. In addition, 3 letters map
into 1 number, adding to the limitation on assignable prefixes like
"Butterfield" or "Teasdale". A while back all area codes had a 0 in the
second slot and all toll-free numbers began with 800. Not anymore. You
also used to be able to connect just dialing the number without any area
code - which was assumed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_A...ze_expansio n


Lays out what happens if we run out of telephone numbers in the XXX-XXX-XXXX
format.


Before anyone has a canary, there are still places that do things
the old way and you can dial a neighbor with only 7 digits.


The UK used to have exchange names -- at least in the London area -- of
which the first *three* letters were dialed.

In our part of the USA, all numbers within our own area code can now be
dialed without the area code, but it was not always that way.

With only 7-digit "subscriber numbers" in a country with the population
of the USA, there is no way of assigning area codes logically -- at
least without dumping the old 0-or-1-in-the-middle ones, and probably
not even then. Australia has 8-digit "subscriber numbers," and the
initial digits of area codes (apart from the leading 0 for in-country
calls) indicate the State (or group of States), plus one specifically
for all cell phones irrespective of location.

With 8-digit "subscriber numbers" the USA could have area codes with the
initial digit denoting the region and further digits indicating the
State or subset of the region or State. Maybe special area codes within
each region for cell phones -- or maybe a set of area codes for cell
phones irrespective of location.

Perce

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On 6/1/2015 7:25 AM, Pat wrote:


When we were young, if the middle digit of the first 3 digits was a 0
or a 1, then it was an area code. All area codes had a 0 or 1 as the
middle digit and all central office prefixes had a 2 thru 9 as the
middle digit. Only 2 thru 9 had letters on the standard dial/keypad.
When they started running out of prefixes in big cities, they dropped
the use of letters. Much later, they started running out of area
codes that met the 0 or 1 rule, so they changed to a computerized
system with lists of valid area codes and prefixes. Now, the 0/1 rule
is completely gone.


That's what did it. It was a fairly major revamping of the system to
recognize other than the 1 and 0 in area codes and allow those digits in
exchanges. And you can't make words using the 1 and 0 keys.

Stop and think for a second at just how amazing the technology is. You
can sit at your home or office phone and punch numbers and then talk to
a person thousands of miles away in another country. Amazing.

Maybe some day we can do it with hand held phones and no wires. Nah,
that'll never happen.

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On 06/01/2015 01:59 AM, micky wrote:

[snip]

I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.


It used to be that ALL local numbers here started with 657- and you
didn't have to specify that. That lasted until about 1990, when they
installed a new electronic exchange.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.


I lived on a farm about 5 miles from town. We could call someone in town
by dialing 5 digits. IIRC, to call someone on the same party line, you'd
have to dial 14 digits (a 4-digit code to ring the same line, then the
full 10 digits). To call long distance, we finally got to dial that too,
but the operator would still come on and ask for the number I'm calling
from (all 10 digits).

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.


I've done almost that. I missed the clicks, but someone came on before I
got to dial (and, IIRC, it was the person I was going to call).

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Trying to find God is a good deal like looking for money one has lost
in a dream." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other
Essays_]
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On 06/01/2015 06:06 AM, Uncle Monster wrote:

[snip]

Offhand, I'd say it had something to do with data entry methods and the need for standardized data
in the early computer age. The poor early computers were quite literal when it came to I/O.
Imagine trying to input alphanumeric phone numbers into a modem or auto dialer. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Computer Monster


I've written such programs, and it wouldn't take much more work to have
it recognize letters. This was when memory cost so much people were
worried about such little bits.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Trying to find God is a good deal like looking for money one has lost
in a dream." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other
Essays_]
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On Monday, June 1, 2015 at 10:43:44 AM UTC-5, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 06/01/2015 06:06 AM, Uncle Monster wrote:

[snip]

Offhand, I'd say it had something to do with data entry methods and the need for standardized data
in the early computer age. The poor early computers were quite literal when it came to I/O.
Imagine trying to input alphanumeric phone numbers into a modem or auto dialer. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle Computer Monster


I've written such programs, and it wouldn't take much more work to have
it recognize letters. This was when memory cost so much people were
worried about such little bits.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Trying to find God is a good deal like looking for money one has lost
in a dream." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other
Essays_]


I was referring to the paper tape/punchcard era of computers. 8-)

[8~{} Uncle Ancient Monster
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On 06/01/2015 08:19 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:

[snip]

Nor do they know the difference between a letter
o and a number zero.


I had an electronics college course in 1980. We were using the debugger
program that comes with CP/M (called DDT). There was a 'g' command to
run a program. 'g' was followed by an address (g100 was common). There
was no specific command to exit the program, instead you would go to
address zero. That is, 'g0'. Several students would complain about that
not working. They were entering 'go' instead of 'g0'.

I have zero in one of my phone numbers. Every
time someone uses letter o when they read
it back, I correct them. Zero, not oh. Few
actually understand.


I try to avoid saying 'o' (the letter) in phone "numbers". For example,
the area code 903 (nine-zero-three, NOT nine-owe-three).

-
.
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
. www.lds.org
.
.--

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Trying to find God is a good deal like looking for money one has lost
in a dream." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other
Essays_]
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On Sunday, May 31, 2015 at 11:46:20 PM UTC-7, 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.


Telephone exchange names were used with the old electromechanical telephone central office equipment like Crossbar and step-by-step relays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange_names

Once central offices were converted to all electronic switching, those names were no longer needed. The popular names here in Olympia, Washington were FLeetwood and WHitehall.
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On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:36:30 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:59:06 -0400, micky
wrote:


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.


When I was REAL young, my parents phone was on a "party line". Sometimes
I'd pick up the phone, and the other party would be talking. I still
dont understand how that worked. I assume the other party had a
different phone number. My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires. My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.

Lots of rural party lines had 6 or more customers on the same line -
they just had different "rings". When your phone rang there was 3
long and 2 short rings if you were ring 32, and 1 long and 5 short if
you were ring 15.

Your line number was the first part of your phone number - so you
could be 415R32 or 416R32 - with the line number assigned to your
local exchange. A local exhange in those days might have had 5 or 6
lines, with up to 20 or 30 or more customers on a single line. I think
the line was split into several subs, or party lines so not everyone
on a given exchange line was on the same party line. I remember my
grandfather's farm was on a party line with 7 or 8 other farms on the
concession - and was Ring32.


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There were two types lines.

First the ancient one where a line was run from a telephone switchboard (usually manned by women) out into the sticks. Everyone on that line could talk to each other (several at once until there were too many and the sound got very weak). Those had different rings. Ours was 2 long, 6 short. That was in the days of the handcrank phone. To talk to people not on that line you had to go through the operator who would manually plug your line into the line of the person you wanted.

Next was the "modern" dial phone. It was a party line but you should have only heard your ring. Only one call could be going at a time. I was on one of those for awhile but someone screwed up and connected me to a private line (at party line rates).

Harry K
Harry K
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On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:57:08 -0400, wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 04:03:55 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:36:30 -0500,
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:59:06 -0400, micky
wrote:


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.

When I was REAL young, my parents phone was on a "party line". Sometimes
I'd pick up the phone, and the other party would be talking. I still
dont understand how that worked. I assume the other party had a
different phone number.


Yes, somehow they would have a different ring, I think. You were
supposed to only answer your own ring.

When we moved back to Indy and my mother signed up for the phone, the
customer service person said she could get a party line with no other
party on it, so she'd save money with no inconvenience. I'm sure we were
not the only ones who got that.. And I think we had that for the whole
8 years we were there. But maybe we had to change to a private line
eventually and she didnt' mention it.

My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires. My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.


That is what the yellow and green were in the old 3 wire JK cable. It
is selective ringing.
One party was on the red/green, one on the red/ yellow.


When I first learned the two wires to the phone were called the tip and
the ring, I assumed the ring was coming in on the ring, as in your
example just above, the green or the yellow. Is there any truth to
that? Is that related to the name ring?

Because when I was 60 y.o. I finally realized the ring was the second
conductor on a phone plug, behind the tip. I know that's valid
nomenclature, but it doesn't prove ring wasn't also used for the wire
the ring came in on. ????

They stopped using the names for phone numbers about the time they
started using area codes. It doesn't make much sense to say 301 LOgan
7 9322 (my phone number from 1954-65)

Some time in the 80s, they also stopped using unique numbers for area
codes


??? What would non-unique numbers be?
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On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 13:01:50 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:57:08 -0400, wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 04:03:55 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:36:30 -0500,
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:59:06 -0400, micky
wrote:


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.

When I was REAL young, my parents phone was on a "party line". Sometimes
I'd pick up the phone, and the other party would be talking. I still
dont understand how that worked. I assume the other party had a
different phone number.

Yes, somehow they would have a different ring, I think. You were
supposed to only answer your own ring.

When we moved back to Indy and my mother signed up for the phone, the
customer service person said she could get a party line with no other
party on it, so she'd save money with no inconvenience. I'm sure we were
not the only ones who got that.. And I think we had that for the whole
8 years we were there. But maybe we had to change to a private line
eventually and she didnt' mention it.

My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires. My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.


That is what the yellow and green were in the old 3 wire JK cable. It
is selective ringing.
One party was on the red/green, one on the red/ yellow.


When I first learned the two wires to the phone were called the tip and
the ring, I assumed the ring was coming in on the ring, as in your
example just above, the green or the yellow. Is there any truth to
that? Is that related to the name ring?

Because when I was 60 y.o. I finally realized the ring was the second
conductor on a phone plug, behind the tip. I know that's valid
nomenclature, but it doesn't prove ring wasn't also used for the wire
the ring came in on. ????

They stopped using the names for phone numbers about the time they
started using area codes. It doesn't make much sense to say 301 LOgan
7 9322 (my phone number from 1954-65)

Some time in the 80s, they also stopped using unique numbers for area
codes


??? What would non-unique numbers be?

A telephone "network device" runs on only 2 wires. The ring is just a
different voltage/frequency impresson across the line that the
"network" inside the phone decodes and sends to the ringer. The
"hook" and "off-hook" signals are generated by resistance across the
line.

On hook you should have about 48 volts DC.
Taking a phone off-hook creates a DC signal path across the pair,
which is detected as loop current back at the central office. This
drops the voltage measured at the phone down to about 3 to 9 volts. An
off-hook telephone typically draws about 15 to 20 milliamps of DC
current to operate, at a DC resistance around 180 ohms. The remaining
voltage drop occurs over the copper wire path and over the telephone
company circuits. These circuits provide from 200 to 400 ohms of
series resistance to protect from short circuits and decouple the
audio signals.

To ring your telephone, the phone company momentarily applies a 90
VRMS, 20 Hz AC signal to the line. Even with a thousand ohms of line
resistance, this can still hurt if you grab the wire when it rings!!!

The 3 volt DC "off hook" voltage carries the modulation of the voice
signal - which on classic fhones consisted of the earpeice in series
with the carbon button mic. (which changed resistance with sound
vibrations)
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Default What ever happened to the WORDS used in phone numbers?

On Monday, June 1, 2015 at 12:36:25 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Sunday, May 31, 2015 at 11:46:20 PM UTC-7, 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.


Telephone exchange names were used with the old electromechanical telephone central office equipment like Crossbar and step-by-step relays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange_names

Once central offices were converted to all electronic switching, those names were no longer needed. The popular names here in Olympia, Washington were FLeetwood and WHitehall.


+1


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On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 07:25:27 -0400, Pat wrote:

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.


When we were young, if the middle digit of the first 3 digits was a 0
or a 1, then it was an area code. All area codes had a 0 or 1 as the
middle digit and all central office prefixes had a 2 thru 9 as the
middle digit. Only 2 thru 9 had letters on the standard dial/keypad.
When they started running out of prefixes in big cities, they dropped
the use of letters. Much later, they started running out of area
codes that met the 0 or 1 rule, so they changed to a computerized
system with lists of valid area codes and prefixes. Now, the 0/1 rule
is completely gone.


The shortage of area codes with a middle number of 0 or 1, and all the
other things we are discussing all relate to the general number
shortage.

Since the invention and wide-spread use of computers, people use far
more numbers than they used to.

At the same time, the Arabs, who invented and still are the major
producers of Arabic numbers, limit the supply. In order to charge
more. As the price of oil has gone down, they are concentrating more
on the price of numbers.

The shortage of numbers is the reason that more and more American
employers etc. are using Social Security numbers as employee numbers, or
as Medicare numbers. It's the reason many states no longer issue new
license plates every year, not the cost of the metal but the cost of a
new set of numbers.

Every time you scrap a hard drive with millions or billions of numbers
on it, you compound the problem. That's why you should take your old
harddrives to Best Buy or some place where they will make sure the
numbers are recycled.

Never WIPE a harddrive. That is just wasteful.

The US governments has a large Number Reserve in mines in Nevada and old
missile silos in North Dakota, but they will not release the numbers
unless the shortage gets much worse. So save your numbers. Even
the numbers on receipts, like grocery store receipts, can help a poor
family get by.
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On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 09:40:52 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 6/1/2015 7:25 AM, Pat wrote:


When we were young, if the middle digit of the first 3 digits was a 0
or a 1, then it was an area code. All area codes had a 0 or 1 as the
middle digit and all central office prefixes had a 2 thru 9 as the
middle digit. Only 2 thru 9 had letters on the standard dial/keypad.
When they started running out of prefixes in big cities, they dropped
the use of letters. Much later, they started running out of area
codes that met the 0 or 1 rule, so they changed to a computerized
system with lists of valid area codes and prefixes. Now, the 0/1 rule
is completely gone.


That's what did it. It was a fairly major revamping of the system to
recognize other than the 1 and 0 in area codes and allow those digits in
exchanges. And you can't make words using the 1 and 0 keys.

Stop and think for a second at just how amazing the technology is. You
can sit at your home or office phone and punch numbers and then talk to
a person thousands of miles away in another country. Amazing.


Yes, it is. Now the big problem is keeping track of what time it is
there.

I remember when we'd talk to my grandmother, with my mother one one
phone and me and my brother on the other phone. So no one would have to
say the same thing twice, at 20 cents a minute for a station-to-station
call. And we were doing well to have a second phone. Now I have a
dozen phones in the closet and not enough rooms to use them in.

Maybe some day we can do it with hand held phones and no wires. Nah,
that'll never happen.


It won't. And if it did, they'd charge 30 cents a minute more in some
countries. That just proves it's impossible.

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micky wrote in
:

Especially in Chicago, where the exchanges were MIdway, HYde Park maybe,
and a couple others I forget that related to the neighborhood.


In Chicago as a kid my number was HUmboldt 6-2462. My grandmother who lived
updtairs was HU6-2542. We lived about a mile from Humboldt Park on the NW
side.



--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.






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On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:08:37 -0500, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 06/01/2015 08:19 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:

[snip]

Nor do they know the difference between a letter
o and a number zero.


I had an electronics college course in 1980. We were using the debugger
program that comes with CP/M (called DDT). There was a 'g' command to
run a program. 'g' was followed by an address (g100 was common). There
was no specific command to exit the program, instead you would go to
address zero. That is, 'g0'. Several students would complain about that
not working. They were entering 'go' instead of 'g0'.

I have zero in one of my phone numbers. Every
time someone uses letter o when they read
it back, I correct them. Zero, not oh. Few
actually understand.


I try to avoid saying 'o' (the letter) in phone "numbers". For example,
the area code 903 (nine-zero-three, NOT nine-owe-three).


Not me. My phone number ends in 20 and I always say two oh.

But what gets me is that in the US in the science field, people slash
their zeroes, but iiuc in Europe they slash their o's. What kind of a
stupid system are those? Wh'at's the point of having a system if the
two parts contradict each other?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashed_zero seems to contradict me. It
says " Slashed 'O' IBM (and a few other early mainframe makers)
used a convention in which the letter O has a slash and the digit 0 does
not. This is even more problematic for Danes, Faroese, and Norwegians
because it means two of their letters—the O and slashed O (Ø)—are
visually similar."

Am I wrong? It was never Europe, just IBM? And how can IBM and a few
other early mainframe makers be so stupid as to do things backwards?

-
.

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On Mon, 1 Jun 2015 07:48:50 -0400, "Robert Green"
wrote:


Probably ran out of 2 letter combos that made sense as part of a larger
word. "KK"


KLondike.

or "WX" would be hard to assign.


WYoming.

In addition, 3 letters map
into 1 number, adding to the limitation on assignable prefixes like
"Butterfield"


In Chicago, my exchange one year was BUtterfield 8. I never read the
book of the same name however.

or "Teasdale". A while back all area codes had a 0 in the
second slot and all toll-free numbers began with 800. Not anymore. You
also used to be able to connect just dialing the number without any area
code - which was assumed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_A...ze_expansio n

Lays out what happens if we run out of telephone numbers in the XXX-XXX-XXXX
format. Before anyone has a canary, there are still places that do things
the old way and you can dial a neighbor with only 7 digits.


Some politicians complained, and maybe forced the Public Service
Commission some places to not change or to change back. Conceivably,
some places people succeeded driectly without needing a politician.

--
Bobby G.




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micky writes:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:08:37 -0500, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 06/01/2015 08:19 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:

[snip]

Nor do they know the difference between a letter
o and a number zero.


I had an electronics college course in 1980. We were using the debugger
program that comes with CP/M (called DDT). There was a 'g' command to
run a program. 'g' was followed by an address (g100 was common). There
was no specific command to exit the program, instead you would go to
address zero. That is, 'g0'. Several students would complain about that
not working. They were entering 'go' instead of 'g0'.

I have zero in one of my phone numbers. Every
time someone uses letter o when they read
it back, I correct them. Zero, not oh. Few
actually understand.


I try to avoid saying 'o' (the letter) in phone "numbers". For example,
the area code 903 (nine-zero-three, NOT nine-owe-three).


Not me. My phone number ends in 20 and I always say two oh.

But what gets me is that in the US in the science field, people slash
their zeroes, but iiuc in Europe they slash their o's. What kind of a
stupid system are those? Wh'at's the point of having a system if the
two parts contradict each other?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashed_zero seems to contradict me. It
says " Slashed 'O' IBM (and a few other early mainframe makers)
used a convention in which the letter O has a slash and the digit 0 does
not. This is even more problematic for Danes, Faroese, and Norwegians
because it means two of their letters€”the O and slashed O (Ø)€”are
visually similar."

Am I wrong? It was never Europe, just IBM? And how can IBM and a few
other early mainframe makers be so stupid as to do things backwards?


I was there. In the 1960s we all programmed by filling out
"coding sheets". You slashed zeros or ohs. You had to or you would
not get what you wanted.
I learned Ohs.
Other places slashed zeros. It wasn't IBM making the rules.

There should have been follow through, the printers should have
been modified to match what was coded. Too late now, but
we still struggle with it in the computer field and even in RL.

--
Dan Espen
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When I was young ours was GArfield. But then they changed it to HAmilton. There must have been some reasoning behind the change.
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On 6/1/2015 12:08 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 06/01/2015 08:19 AM, Stormin Mormon wrote:

[snip]

Nor do they know the difference between a letter
o and a number zero.


I had an electronics college course in 1980. We were using the debugger
program that comes with CP/M (called DDT). There was a 'g' command to
run a program. 'g' was followed by an address (g100 was common). There
was no specific command to exit the program, instead you would go to
address zero. That is, 'g0'. Several students would complain about that
not working. They were entering 'go' instead of 'g0'.

I have zero in one of my phone numbers. Every
time someone uses letter o when they read
it back, I correct them. Zero, not oh. Few
actually understand.


I try to avoid saying 'o' (the le[Thank you. I also

try not to use letter o.]
tter) in phone "numbers". For example,
the area code 903 (nine-zero-three, NOT nine-owe-three).

-
.
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
. www.lds.org
.
.--

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Trying to find God is a good deal like looking for money one has lost
in a dream." [Lemuel K. Washburn, _Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other
Essays_]



-
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..
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On 6/1/2015 1:01 PM, micky wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:57:08 -0400, wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 04:03:55 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:36:30 -0500,
wrote:

On Mon, 01 Jun 2015 02:59:06 -0400, micky
wrote:


I have to tell you about when my mother moved to western Pa. in 1945,
from Indianapolis. While NYC and probably some other places had dial
phones already, we didn't. So my mother would tell the operator,
OLiver 4-1383 please, or Oliver 4-3343 please,and after a couple days or
weeks, the operator told her, You don't have to say Oliver 4, Ma'am.
They're all Oliver 4.

I remember when I came home and they had installed dials. They changed
the phone in my parents' bedroom entirely, but the wall phone in the
idtchen they took the top off, connected a couple wires, and attached a
top with a dial.

One time I called my best friend and I heard click click, click click
click. I hung up and our phone rang. He had been calling me. The
phone didn't ring at his end when I called.

When I was REAL young, my parents phone was on a "party line". Sometimes
I'd pick up the phone, and the other party would be talking. I still
dont understand how that worked. I assume the other party had a
different phone number.

Yes, somehow they would have a different ring, I think. You were
supposed to only answer your own ring.

When we moved back to Indy and my mother signed up for the phone, the
customer service person said she could get a party line with no other
party on it, so she'd save money with no inconvenience. I'm sure we were
not the only ones who got that.. And I think we had that for the whole
8 years we were there. But maybe we had to change to a private line
eventually and she didnt' mention it.

My guess is that they ran two phone numbers thru
the same wires to save on wires. My parents were glad when they got rid
of the party line, but I think they had to pay a little more.


That is what the yellow and green were in the old 3 wire JK cable. It
is selective ringing.
One party was on the red/green, one on the red/ yellow.


When I first learned the two wires to the phone were called the tip and
the ring, I assumed the ring was coming in on the ring, as in your
example just above, the green or the yellow. Is there any truth to
that? Is that related to the name ring?

Because when I was 60 y.o. I finally realized the ring was the second
conductor on a phone plug, behind the tip. I know that's valid
nomenclature, but it doesn't prove ring wasn't also used for the wire
the ring came in on. ????



I heard that tip and ring were refer to the plugs the
operators used. Tip was the tip of the plug, and ring
wss connected to the back of the 1/4 inch phono plug.

Nothing to do with phone ringers.

-
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
..
www.lds.org
..
..
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