tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post5561630636255968383..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: telephonylynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54733765905968339582024-03-15T21:04:00.929+00:002024-03-15T21:04:00.929+00:00I don’t think anyone has mentioned this above (apo...I don’t think anyone has mentioned this above (apologies if so) but in BrE we would say, for example, “Ring the school *on* 0121 XXXXXXX”, but in AmE this tends to be “Call the school *at* 121 XXXXXXX. CaptainSiCohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18025513284180590274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-81614124970579080962020-08-21T12:16:18.273+01:002020-08-21T12:16:18.273+01:00BrE. ET phone home?BrE. ET phone home?Shy-replyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01891566073375322808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-33923284095142306302019-05-27T14:14:51.009+01:002019-05-27T14:14:51.009+01:00BrE, mid 60s. The problem with 1571 is that you ha...BrE, mid 60s. The problem with 1571 is that you have to remember to check for missed calls. Consequently, we still have a physical answering machine, although these days it’s part of the charger hor the landline handset. We are not technophobes. We just choose the technology that works best for us.Shy-replyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01891566073375322808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-91705741635944331242016-07-06T21:37:44.849+01:002016-07-06T21:37:44.849+01:00One thing that nobody - including me - mentioned d...One thing that nobody - including me - mentioned during the original spate of comments on this post was the cost of making telephone calls. I don't know what it was like in the USA, but in the 1950s and early 1960s - pre-STD in the UK - making a trunk call was incredibly expensive, and not undertaken lightly. There was a sound signal ("The pips") that went after 3 minutes, and this was your signal to hang up, unless you were feeling extravagant. Local calls were far cheaper. <br /><br />Then, when STD came in, local calls remained a great deal cheaper than trunk calls (national calls, by then); it was also a lot cheaper to ring after 6:00 pm or on Saturdays and Sundays. At one stage, I think, it was cheaper in the afternoon than in the morning, and then cheaper still in the evenings. During the 1970s the cost of calls fell significantly, and international dialling (known as ISD, I think) meant that my English family and friends could ring me when I was living in Paris, which they couldn't when I first moved there. Well, they could, but you had to book the call, and sometimes it would take ages to come through, and they cost a great deal.<br /><br />And now - now calls are frequently, if not invariably, bundled with your line rental (why do we use that term even for mobiles?), even if only evening and weekend ones, so you can chat away to your heart's content. I have far more minutes on my phone than I'll ever use! Although ringing a foreign number from my mobile is still very expensive, not something I'd really want to do....Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-88503544096075567552016-04-15T01:48:18.017+01:002016-04-15T01:48:18.017+01:00When I was a boy, people often spoke of crossed li...When I was a boy, people often spoke of <i>crossed lines</i> — more often as a metaphor for miscommunication than as a term for an actual technical mishap. <br /><br />But rather than <i>You've got your lines crossed</i> I remember <i>You've got your wires crossed</i> — exclusively as a metaphor for 'You've muddled up what we agreed'.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-40110255526086010442016-04-14T14:33:33.161+01:002016-04-14T14:33:33.161+01:00The Bee Gees song "Alone" (1997) mention...The Bee Gees song "Alone" (1997) mentioned an "answerphone." I (AmE) never knew till I read this blog what an answerphone might be. An answering machine, yes, I'm old enough to remember those. <br /><br />As for crossed lines, the movie "Lion King" had a pun on this; when one of the characters was mixed up, another said he had his lions crossed.<br /><br />Another technical term I knew from working at Bell Labs in the early 1980s was crosstalk: hearing another phone conversation in the background of your own when two signals got mixed together. I don't know whether "crosstalk" was known by people outside the industry.Steve Dunhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970801099772755392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-16776131279074973762012-08-26T18:01:35.659+01:002012-08-26T18:01:35.659+01:00Ooh! Somebody else I know contributing to this si...Ooh! Somebody else I know contributing to this site! Hello Diane Brewster! <br /><br />But Diane, it isn't quite true that all British phone numbers have 11 digits. Some numbers in the Lancaster and Kendal areas have only 10 digits, for reasons I can't fathom. The British system of formatting phone numbers has been, I'm sure, the despair of more than just me when attempting to validate input.<br /><br />And there are <i>still</i> applications around (bbdb, I'm looking at you) which will reject a phone number if it is not presented in US format!<br />enitharmonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17829757748223670291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-31751880108895570552012-04-30T13:01:58.754+01:002012-04-30T13:01:58.754+01:00Over here a crossed line also means that you have ...Over here a crossed line also means that you have been accidentally connected to a third party, as well as the one you were trying to ring, or even that two simultaneous conversations are going on on the same line. This could give rise to indignant conversation along the lines of "You get off the line" "No, you get off the line."<br /><br />No need for my Mum to announce her name when she answered however, as I recognised her slightly wary "Hello?" we'd only had our own phone a short time then.Vennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-65723681182427659662012-04-28T18:40:16.982+01:002012-04-28T18:40:16.982+01:00Ven
It was imperative that I worked out how to u...Ven<br /><br /><i> It was imperative that I worked out how to use it as I had to ring my folks to get some exam results.</i><br /><br />And it was disastrous if you lost your money because of a <b><i>crossed line</i></b>. Did you have that term in America? It mean your call was connected wrongly. So it was vital that the person answering the phone should announce their name and/or number.<br /><br />This was dramatised by the late great Sidney Carter. You need to know that London numbers consisted of three letters followed by four numbers. So PRI was what you dialled for the Primrose Hill exchange. PRO wasn't an exchange, but a crossed line to a working girl.<br /><br /><i>THE TELEPHONE SONG by Sydney Carter<br /><br />Standing alone in the damp and the dark<br />Of a filthy old phone box in Finsbury Park<br />I dialed Fremantle they give me a FRO,<br />I asked for a Primrose, they give me a PRO.<br /><br />CHORUS<br />So, Say who you are, love, and not 'Hello'<br />Give me your name and give me your number.<br />Say who you are, love, and not 'Hello'<br />If I press button 'A' all my pennies will go.<br /><br />My mother is waiting at Lancaster Gate,<br />I promised to phone at a quarter to eight.<br />I've done all the things that they tell me to do<br />But instead of my mother I keep getting you.<br /><br />There's many the girl that I've got to know<br />Through a fault on the line of the GPO,<br />I'd do it again but it wouldn't be right.<br />I promised to telephone mother tonight.</i>David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-81918256529064735512012-04-28T03:15:17.928+01:002012-04-28T03:15:17.928+01:00All these posts and no one mentioned Button A and ...All these posts and no one mentioned Button A and Button B! <br />http://www.worldpayphones.com/units/unit-uk-AB.htm<br /><br />"The Button A and Button B pay phones, first introduced in 1925, connected callers via an operator on insertion of the call fee. <br /><br />The caller then pushed Button A to deposit the coins and make the connection. If a call could not be connected for some reason, or if there was no reply, Button B was pushed and all the coins were returned."<br /><br />I'm 55 and I only ever came across one of these phones once, in the middle of nowhere in 1974. It was imperative that I worked out how to use it as I had to ring my folks to get some exam results.<br /><br />A late comment but I noticed that you said somewhere else that you don't mind theseVennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-552279660242622252011-11-07T18:45:21.412+00:002011-11-07T18:45:21.412+00:00Not quite. While most area codes now have 10 digit...<i>Not quite. While most area codes now have 10 digit numbers, there are still 52 area codes that have some 9 digit numbers.<br /><br />These are in 40 of the 01xxx area codes and in 12 of the 01xxxx area codes.</i><br /><br />TYPO! This bit should have read...<br /><br />Not quite. While most area codes now have 10 digit numbers, there are still 41 area codes that have some 9 digit numbers.<br /><br />These are found in 40 of the 01xxx area codes and in one 01xxxx area code.Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-62265106694659761142011-11-07T17:39:37.594+00:002011-11-07T17:39:37.594+00:00For example, the London codes 0207 and 0208 are sh...<i>For example, the London codes 0207 and 0208 are shorter than my city's code, 01273. And until a few years ago, they were even shorter (020).</i><br /><br />The London area code is (020) with eight digit numbers (020) xxxx xxxx. It has never been 0207 or 0208.<br /><br />It was 0171 and 0181 before 2000, 071 and 081 before 1995, and 01 before 1990.<br /><br />In Northern England there are still very long codes like 013873, 015242, 015395, 016977, 017684, and 019467 in use. These have five digit numbers.<br /><br />The 016977 area code still has some four digit numbers!<br /><br /><br /><i>Phone numbers in the UK are the same length - even the London ones</i><br /><br />Not quite. While most area codes now have 10 digit numbers, there are still 52 area codes that have some 9 digit numbers.<br /><br />These are in 40 of the 01xxx area codes and in 12 of the 01xxxx area codes.<br /><br /><br /><i>inner London (0207) or outer (0208) and one for the district (eg 226 for around Islington / finsbury Park, 794 for hampstead)</i><br /><br />London has a single 020 area code. The district is now the next FOUR digits (e.g. 7226 for around Islington / Finsbury Park; 7794 for Hampstead)<br /><br /><br /><i>It’s common to see phone numbers wrongly split even in writing, such as on vans, business cards, etc.</i><br /><br />It's a mystery why, when the data is available in many places. Perhaps it's because there are quite a few variations.<br /><br />http://www.aa-asterisk.org.uk/index.php/Number_Format<br />http://www.aa-asterisk.org.uk/index.php/01_numbers<br />http://www.aa-asterisk.org.uk/index.php/Mixed_areasMikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-76580746392899674822011-10-25T00:45:32.338+01:002011-10-25T00:45:32.338+01:00It is incredible how in the same language there ca...It is incredible how in the same language there can be so many different ways of saying things! For technical terms there should be a standard but I suppose it is impossible to change how people talk. Maybe you could be a British to American English translator!Spanish translatorhttp://www.lingo-star.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-77080565809390530782011-05-12T16:49:16.109+01:002011-05-12T16:49:16.109+01:00Personally, it irritates me intensely when people ...Personally, it irritates me intensely when people give out London telephone numbers, as, eg, "0207 - xxx - xxxx". The code for London os 020. That's it.Terry Collmannnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-1953543736116739862011-05-07T11:44:12.973+01:002011-05-07T11:44:12.973+01:00I agree with 2 of the points made by fellow Brits,...I agree with 2 of the points made by fellow Brits, firstly that never in my life have I ever heard anyone refer to an "ansaphone", and secondly that I don't believe "telephone call box" to be used widely, or in fact at all. I've certainly never heard anyone use that term. <br /><br />I think with the answer machine, it depends whether you are calling a landline or a mobile number. If it was a landline and there was no answer, you would be directed to the "answer(ing) machine". If you phoned a mobile and there was no answer, the call would be directed to "voicemail". I would imagine this has something to do with the fact that, post-BT 1571, home phones did actually have a physical, mechanical "answer machine". For mobiles, the term "voicemail" has been picked up from network providers, phone shop employees, intruction booklets etc.<br /><br />The term "telephone call box" is one which I have never heard of before. I could imagine perhaps an old person saying it, but generally in the UK we would refer to either a "phone box" (in the case of there actually being a little booth, outside in a street) or a "payphone" (in the case of it being inside a supermarket, sports centre or other public building - usually wall-mounted but not contained in a physical walk-in booth)<br /><br />I would also argue that in Britain, we call it "The Phone Book", as it is officially named by BT. For businesses, we would use the Yellow Pages.<br /><br />Although both of these terms are less widely used now thanks to the internet and internet-enabled phones...Linznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-50372349509211087182011-05-04T15:50:21.152+01:002011-05-04T15:50:21.152+01:00David Crosbie said: "Mobile phones/cell phone...David Crosbie said: "Mobile phones/cell phones have a hash key. Computer keyboards don't."<br /><br />UK computer keyboards most certainly do have a hash key! Though it moves around. On the one I am typing this on right now it is the rightmost key on the asdf row. <br /><br />AFAIR every UK computer keyboard I have used - and that is hundreds, not just PCs but Sun servers, IBM mainframes, ICL kit, even once upon a time a real teletype - has had a hash key *except* my otherwise wonderful Apple Macbook where you have to use a three-fingered circumlocution to get it.<br /><br />Which is irritating because the hash sign is very often used in Unix shellscripts and the Perl programing language to mark a comment line. So I wish the Mac had a 1-finger key for it.<br /><br />As far as I know this is because UK Macs put the pound (sterling) sign where US Macs have the hash (which they call a pound and no-one ever really called an octothorpe except as a joke) But I don't have a US Mac keyboard to compare it with...Ken Brownhttp://ken@wibsite.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-82813364410139762402011-04-29T13:40:34.876+01:002011-04-29T13:40:34.876+01:00Just to muddy the waters of terminology even more,...Just to muddy the waters of terminology even more, the telephone directory issued by BT (British Telecom as was) is officially titled "The Phone Book", and has been for the past few years.<br /><br />I see that's what they're calling their web-based directory as well.<br /><br />I'm just old enough (50 soon!) to remember the last years of named exchanges in the US. Growing up in St Louis, I learned to recite my home number as Melrose-etc. It was slightly confusing because there was a ubiquitous TV commercial at the time for Mayrose bacon, and I always have to think to be sure which was Melrose and which was Mayrose.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-70675564830857247652011-04-29T03:03:11.505+01:002011-04-29T03:03:11.505+01:00I think "service provider" is coming int...I think "service provider" is coming into ordinary AmE usage, maybe through the more generic "provider". I know I rarely ask friends who their carrier is, and service provider sounds normal.<br /><br />I'm pretty sure "ET phone home" is idiosyncratic and not a reflection of using "phone" as a verb in AmE.Alexishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15019989788721036349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-19369220749956337002011-04-27T17:10:05.444+01:002011-04-27T17:10:05.444+01:00ø
Sorry! I thought your name was Said preceded by...ø<br /><br />Sorry! I thought your name was <i>Said</i> preceded by a symbol!David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-24959251068256078552011-04-27T12:01:24.667+01:002011-04-27T12:01:24.667+01:00said
Many thanks! For over thirty years I've ...said<br /><br />Many thanks! For over thirty years I've listened to a church congregation recording led by two of Fred's friends and neighbours — without making out most of the words. <br /><br />For the final <i>Call him up and tell him what you want</i>, my best guess was <i>Bound to end up in here, want you to know</i>. And, being British, I would never have guessed <i>line ain't never busy</i>.<br /><br />My guesses were shaped by the fact that here a <i>main line</i> is (apart from drug expressions) exclusively associated with railways — what you now call <i>railroads</i> (but some early American constructions were called <i>railways</i>). For the telephone system we used to say <i>trunk line</i>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-42772381410281819182011-04-27T07:05:41.364+01:002011-04-27T07:05:41.364+01:00One of the oddest consequences of STD taking so lo...One of the oddest consequences of STD taking so long to be rolled out across the UK was that, in the early 1970s, I, living in Paris, could dial my grandmother's number directly; my parents, in the UK, could not! <br /><br />In those days, making an international call from Paris was weird - you dialled 19, then waited for a second dial tone before dialling your country code and so on. I don't know when it changed to what is now the European standard.Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-28458313111614927322011-04-27T00:59:44.140+01:002011-04-27T00:59:44.140+01:00Call Him up and tell Him what you want.<a href="http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/ry+cooder/jesus+on+the+mainline_20120160.html" rel="nofollow">Call Him up</a> and tell Him what you want.Øhttp://voidplay.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-32126338586652719072011-04-26T23:19:22.818+01:002011-04-26T23:19:22.818+01:00If you knew the local codes to bounce from exchang...If you knew the local codes to bounce from exchange to exchange you could chain them together to make a local-rate call across several exchanges; you just dialled a load of two-digit codes on the front. The line was always terrible because you were routing it through many exchanges, but the GPO generally didn't mind you making a long-distance call at local-call rates, because you were using the (cheap, underused) local exchange interconnects rather than the (expensive, always close to capacity) trunk lines.<br /><br />Over time, the local exchange codes got attached to the number, while a digit or two would get slapped on the front of the main exchange numbers. Even now, any (non-DIRector) number that starts 89 is probably from a small town/large village in the outskirts of the STD area its in. This is where the comment about 89xxxx numbers being Seaford is - Eastbourne was selected for the STD trunks to come into, and you had to call the local code 89 to get from Eastbourne to Seaford; if you were calling within Seaford, you could call the four-digit number, if you were in Eastbourne you probably had a local five-digit number, but you could call 89-xxxx from Eastbourne to Seaford, or you could call 0323 (originally 0EA3) from anywhere to STD to the Eastbourne exchange, then 89 to the Seaford exchange, and then the four-digit local number.<br /><br />London outgrew the DIRector system, and new numbers are allocated haphazardly there now, so the first four digits no longer have any significance in terms of which local exchange the call goes through.<br /><br />The other DIRector systems still kind-of work, in most cases the local exchange is allocated a block of DIRector codes and the first-three does tell you whereabouts you're calling, thought the city centres have so many lines now that their exchanges have masses of codes.<br /><br />The traditional exchanges that still have six-digit calling (or the handful with five or four digit local numbers) also retain their historical number patterns; provided they still have room, numbers are issued as if the old local exchanges still existed.<br /><br />Some traditional exchanges got moved to the 011 numbers (0113 for Leeds, for instance) or the new 02x numbers (024 for Coventry) and the historical number patterns with local exchange codes have been wiped out by the pattern; new numbers are issued without regard for where they are.Richard Gadsdenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10545595590359552775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-87568805091956508732011-04-26T23:19:08.949+01:002011-04-26T23:19:08.949+01:00On STD and DIRector codes.
Once upon a time, we u...On STD and DIRector codes.<br /><br />Once upon a time, we used to have two different types of telephone exchange in the UK, "normal" exchanges and DIRector exchanges.<br /><br />The DIRector areas were London (01), Birmingham (021), Edinburgh (031), Glasgow (041), Liverpool (051), Manchester (061) and Newcastle (091).<br /><br />In a DIRector area, you had a local code (three digits, originally three letters) and then a four digit local number. For a long time, you could make a (very) local call by dialling the four digit local number within your exchange, as well as being able to dial the 7-digit number for anywhere in your DIRector area.<br /><br />Outside DIRector areas, local numbers were usually three or four digits on a single exchange. Long distance (trunk) calls always went through the operator, and that usually meant two operators, the local one who would connect you to the trunk, and the one at the remote exchange who would connect you to the final number. In the very earliest days, you had to book the trunk line in advance - you'd call the operator to do so - as there was a limited number of trunk lines into a given exchange.<br /><br />Subscriber trunk dialling (STD) came in in 1958, though some rural exchanges weren't connected until the seventies. Originally, the STD code was the first two letters of the name of the STD area plus a digit - my grandparent's number was 0BA6-4548 (Barnsley) when we first called it. STD areas covered more than one exchange, and you had local codes (which were two digit codes that started with an 8) to call any of the secondary exchanges. You could make a local call with just four digits, call another local exchange with the local code plus the number (ie six digits) or use an STD code.<br /><br />You could tell STD codes from DIRector codes (which would otherwise look similar) because the STD code always had the 0 at the front; I think this is where the tradition for including the 0 in British codes comes from.Richard Gadsdenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10545595590359552775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-67953074495645362552011-04-26T22:26:18.933+01:002011-04-26T22:26:18.933+01:00On mobiles and cellphones.
Britain's original...On mobiles and cellphones.<br /><br />Britain's original two mobile phone networks were Vodafone and Cellnet. They were both national systems.<br /><br />America originally had lots of local cellular systems, and it took time for them to combine into networks, and for those networks.<br /><br />These facts have shaped the way mobile phones/cellphones work in the two countries.<br /><br />American cell phones have "normal" numbers that you can't distinguish from landlines. They were originally in the area code where the (local) company was based; these days they depend on either the address you sign the contract from, or sometimes the address of the shop you bought the phone in. This means that the caller can't tell from looking at the number whether they are calling a landline or a cellphone. It's never been possible, as a result, for the caller to pay extra for calling to a cellphone. Originally, the cellphone owner paid extra for receiving a call; these days, they use up the minutes on their calling plan, which are probably so many that they never come close to their limit.<br /><br />In Britain, Cellnet and Vodafone were each allocated their own STD codes (for instance 0378 was a Vodafone code) and these numbers were *much* more expensive to call than a normal number, so you had to keep track of what was a very expensive mobile STD code and what was a still pretty expensive long-distance landline call. Calls from mobiles were also really expensive, and calls from one mobile to another were horrific - and calling from one mobile to one on the other network could run to several pounds a minute.<br /><br />In 1995, there was a great reorganisation, and all the mobiles were brought together as 07 numbers, while the landlines were all switched to 01 numbers (by making them all one digit longer), so 0378 became 07778 and 0744 became 01744.<br /><br />It's still true that calls to a mobile from a landline cost more - mobile-to-mobile calls are generally discounted these days and included in your bundled minutes [and that's another one: callplan AmE, bundle BrE].<br /><br />I like the UK system; if you call an 020 number, you know you're talking to someone in London. If you call 1-212 you might get Manhattan, but you might get a mobile in Los Angeles instead.<br /><br />I'll come back to STD codes and DIRector codes in a sec.<br /><br />PS, it's spelt Gadsden, like the purchase. Don't worry, everyone gets it wrong.Richard Gadsdenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10545595590359552775noreply@blogger.com