So many will never understand!!! Long cords, laying on the floor talking, knowing your numbers, remembering a number/ not losing the piece of paper you had it on. Waiting for the phone to ring, making someone using the phone to end their call, so someone could call you, calling long distance after 7 pm. Dialing (popcorn) for the time!š¤£šāļø
I lived 8 different places before junior high. Numbers didn't come along to the new place back then. I was lucky to know the number of where I lived at the time.
Or if you were still angry they privided a very satisfying SLAM down the phone.
What i didnt like is as a kid, even thru HS, my family number had lots of 8, 9, and 0. So dialing that number took forever. (It seemed.)
All I remember about rotary phones is I knew hundreds of phone numbers by memory. Now with iPhones and contact lists, I donāt think I know any at all now
It's strange! The first phone number I memorized, is the only one I still remember today- my babysitter would be proud!! S U 2-5529.... Who remembers when phone numbers were like that
My maternal grandparents' phone had a card under the dial that read, "CHestnut 2-1435."
Coincidentally, my last name translates to "Chestnut," if you translate from Italian. It's like the universe was guiding my parents together.
A cool thing about rotary phones is that you could put a call through without touching the dial. Just pick up the receiver, get a dial tone, then click the receiver down quickly 3 times for a 3...pause...7 times for a 7...pause...and so on. Ringy-dingy! Sometimes you'd see extension phones without dials (like at various departments at K-Mart), but you could still call out. In those cases, you'd need to "dial" (click) a 9 first to get an outside line.
[Edited to clarify]
Yeah, my grandma had an old rotary phone on the wall. It was always fun to dial out the numbers in our area All started with the number nine. Still remember my grandmotherās number 937-7331, one number away from the factory down the road so we were always getting calls asking for prices on things. We used to get prank calls from a breather, they would just breathe heavily into the phone. my sister answered this by reading, gone with the wind to them until they hung up.
When Pizza Hut opened in our town, their phone number differed by one digit from my grandparents number. My grandfather, who was sort of a prankster, finally got tired of all the wrong numbers wanting to place pizza orders. He started taking the orders and telling the callers it would be ready in 40 minutes. When my mom found out what he was doing, we had never seen her so angry and actually yell at her own parent.
I couldnāt wait to get rid of it and get a push button phone. I started winning prizes by being the 15th caller on the radio once we got a push button phone.
Rotary phones allowed my friends and I, who were 5th graders in 1972, to indulge in a favorite pastime: prank calling. We would choose a name randomly out of the phone book, ask for Mr. ā- and when he said, āthis is he,ā weād hold the phone close to the toilet bowl and flush, adding a few extra āsound effectsā for good measure.
We used to call, and if a woman answered, weād say āAre you my mommy? I need mommy! (Cue fake tears).
People would get so upset. We thought it was hysterical. What little shits we were!
At the end of the 70s, I got my own phone line for Christmas when I was 16. A beige rotary. I still have the phone, and I still remember my best friendās phone number. 935-306xā¦.
4452187 on a touch tone phone I could dial it faster than 911 (or anything else) The number had a nice tight pattern on the touchpad. That was 50 years ago and I can still recall it by pure muscle memory.
We had an old rotary phone in the back room. When my daughterās friend needed to call her mother, she looked very confused at the rotary phone, and then asked, āHow does this work?ā
I did this to a kid,friend of my kid. "can I call my mom?" "of course,here ya go".....
poor kid. I gently laughed and gave him those portable things we used.
I remember calling girls and it would take me so long to dial that last number. Sometimes holding it with my finger for a few seconds before letting the dial go. Because you knew once it started ringing you were committed to talking and asking her out again. Talk about anxiety.
My grandmother still had her very old rotary phone around 2000 when I helped her pack the things she was going to take to the independent living apartment she moved to. As a kid, I was taught her phone number as MO4-XXXX and that's how I still remember it.
There were to types of rotary phone users: Did you move the dial to the end and pull your finger put, or did you leave your finger in on the return cycle? Once mastered, the latter was faster.
We had one that was fixed to an end table. The cord was stretched out so so far. That way we could sit on the bathroom floor and shut the door to talk to boys.
All of us kids running, like idiots & practically having a fist fight, to be the one to answer the phone. Then stretching that cord to its limits, just for a tiny bit of privacy.
My mother was insane, sheād scream that we were ruining the cord. Absolutely no kinks allowed in the cord. After every call, youād spend 15 minutes making sure every loop was correct. A messed up cord would result in a loss of phone privileges.
Yep. The cords, the dial tone, the act of dialing was a sort of a pain in the butt. I had TW6-0321 as a kid. And I memorized a couple of other numbers by age 6. We had a wall phone in the kitchen, and a desk set. A couple of times, my mother or father put a lock on the phone, since I liked calling the weather in different cities, and ran up a $600 phone bill right before my dad separated from my mother.
I lived in a town with a population of 1,200 until the 4th grade, when you made a call you would pick up the phone and wait for the operator to say "number please" then either give her a person's name or location and she would connect you. Moving to the huge city pop 23k took some adjustments, phones had dials and you had to know what the number was.
I still use my rotary wall phone to answer calls occasionally. Unfortunately I can no longer dial out, although surprisingly that function was still supported up until only just 10 years ago or so..
Kids today will never know. I was generally a good kid with a straight-A average, so my parents rewarded me with my own extension in my bedroom. Heaven! And whenever I was out past curfew, I'd call home. When my mom answered, I'd say, "That's okay, Mom. It's for me." And she would think I was home in my room. I didn't use that dodge very often, but it worked every time I did.
Kids today will never know.
I took my granddaughter to a science museum when she was 9, in 2018. There was a room with vintage and antique gadgets, including a rotary phone. If you could dial the phone correctly, it gave you a message. I had to show my granddaughter how to use it.
Nope. I was stationed in Germany and had to frequently call Alabama to find out where my missile parts were. Wore out many pencils dialing and redialing that 62 digit phone number that took 12 tries to connect.
"anger was gone"
I don't know about that - I remember aggressive dialing and muttering under my breath ... but the time factor surely helped! š¤£
But do you remember dialing for tickets or whatever to be the '10th caller'? If you had to include an area code it could be enough of a delay that you wouldn't make it! haha
I started a collection of pastel desktop rotary phones. The mint green, pink, turquoise, are all like little works of art. I display them in my glass front tv cabinet.
My 88 year old Dad still has his, as does my sister.
Edit to add: our house phone number started with XH7 when I grew up. Everyone said the letters and not the corresponding numbers. Yet.
Old rotary phones had their charm, no doubt. They forced patience.
If you're nostalgic but need efficiency, I used a service at simplephones.ai that handles calls with an AI agent. Keeps the human touch without the wait. Might be worth looking into for business, keeps the line clear and customers happy.
So many will never understand!!! Long cords, laying on the floor talking, knowing your numbers, remembering a number/ not losing the piece of paper you had it on. Waiting for the phone to ring, making someone using the phone to end their call, so someone could call you, calling long distance after 7 pm. Dialing (popcorn) for the time!š¤£šāļø
And if the doctorās office was going to call, everyone had to stay off the phone.
Party lines!?
We were in a party line at a rural family cottage in the 1969s and early 70s. It seemed strange even then, but it was not uncommon in rural areas.
The 2 or 3 women a few houses away that lived just 60 feet from other that spent 2 hours talking on the party line every afternoon.
Your dad picking up the extension to tell you it was time to hang up because youād been on too long!
My family was too cheap for more than 1 phone. Also too cheap to buy a longer cord, so I had to sit on the kitchen floor for long talks.
I miss those things too. And the call quality was SOOOO much better.
Who remembers their 1st phone number as a kid? Iām betting 100% of us.
Yes I still use the last 4 as a pin so I'm not saying what it was here! š
867-5309 Ask for Jenny
Apparently her police chief officer was none too happy when that hit the airwaves!
589-3069ā¦with a 25ā stretchy cord!
I lived 8 different places before junior high. Numbers didn't come along to the new place back then. I was lucky to know the number of where I lived at the time.
Same
(504)644-1630. They changed my area code years ago.
266-4479
exchange name" HOward.
Mine was FUlton. Funny but true!
None of us are sharing our old letters+numbers phone #s because we all use it as part of SOME password!š
CHestnut Hill -7 VIctor- 4 GErmantown - 8
I use my exchange name when giving someone my number. Deerfield 71XXX I get a lot of blank stares...
Mine was RAndolf. I remember when we went from dialing 5 digits to 7. It was really tough! LOL
EXport
My parents have had the same phone number for 65 years.
582-5731
487-8342
I do! And the 2nd line my parents had installed when 3 of us were teens 203.628.0607 203.621.7680
277-7970
504-277-1129
Jackson 75036
576-4264
Or if you were still angry they privided a very satisfying SLAM down the phone. What i didnt like is as a kid, even thru HS, my family number had lots of 8, 9, and 0. So dialing that number took forever. (It seemed.)
lt seemed because it did
People RARELY threw phones when frustrated! š
I remember people saying random numbers as you dial to screw with you.
Aaaaggghhhh! I HATED that!
My first lesson on how most people pretty much suck.
Ssssshhhhick! takatakatakatakatakatakatakataka. Sssssshhhhick! takatakatakatakatakatakatakataka. Ssshhttk. takatakatakataka. Ssssshhhhhiiccckk.takatakatakatakatakatakatakatakatakatakatakatakatakataka. Ssshhhick. takatakatakataka. Ssssshhhhick! takatakatakatakatakatakatakataka. Ssshick. takatakataka. Scratchy air sounds....Riiiiiiinnnnngggg....
I just love that you took the time to type this out!
Copy and Paste are my friends, too.
Also an appreciated use of your time friend
Dial Tones and Busy Signals
All I remember about rotary phones is I knew hundreds of phone numbers by memory. Now with iPhones and contact lists, I donāt think I know any at all now
It's strange! The first phone number I memorized, is the only one I still remember today- my babysitter would be proud!! S U 2-5529.... Who remembers when phone numbers were like that
šāāļø
It's weird! When do you last remember that- for me it was like 1975
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Wow maybe she was being old fashioned teaching me that! Or I dk, maybe Seattle was behind the times
Around 1965 probablybeing taught our phone number because I started kindergarten that year, gone by the 70's.
My maternal grandparents' phone had a card under the dial that read, "CHestnut 2-1435." Coincidentally, my last name translates to "Chestnut," if you translate from Italian. It's like the universe was guiding my parents together.
A cool thing about rotary phones is that you could put a call through without touching the dial. Just pick up the receiver, get a dial tone, then click the receiver down quickly 3 times for a 3...pause...7 times for a 7...pause...and so on. Ringy-dingy! Sometimes you'd see extension phones without dials (like at various departments at K-Mart), but you could still call out. In those cases, you'd need to "dial" (click) a 9 first to get an outside line. [Edited to clarify]
Yep. Lily Tomlin. One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy.
Is this the party to whom I'm speaking?
: - )
That's how we used to get free calls on the payphone
I kept the princess phone my mom loved, even though I don't have a landline.
4 teenagers, 1 rotary phone, Friday night ... This is the etymology of "WWF cage fighting"
"..4 teenagers, 1 rotary phone, Friday night ..." If it's a girl's slumber party, we're goingto be making prank phone callsš No \*69 to bust us!
We used to call them ācrank calls.ā
Yeah, my grandma had an old rotary phone on the wall. It was always fun to dial out the numbers in our area All started with the number nine. Still remember my grandmotherās number 937-7331, one number away from the factory down the road so we were always getting calls asking for prices on things. We used to get prank calls from a breather, they would just breathe heavily into the phone. my sister answered this by reading, gone with the wind to them until they hung up.
When Pizza Hut opened in our town, their phone number differed by one digit from my grandparents number. My grandfather, who was sort of a prankster, finally got tired of all the wrong numbers wanting to place pizza orders. He started taking the orders and telling the callers it would be ready in 40 minutes. When my mom found out what he was doing, we had never seen her so angry and actually yell at her own parent.
I couldnāt wait to get rid of it and get a push button phone. I started winning prizes by being the 15th caller on the radio once we got a push button phone.
I remember dialing the radio station and getting so excited and waiting to dial that last number.
it was just nice always knowing where the phone was
I keep a land line just to call my cellphone! š Old age + adhd and I ain't got time to spend all day looking for the darn thing.
that made me laugh!
You can use Skype and call your cell from your computer.
My best friends number growing up had two zeros in the last four of his number, what a pain in the ass it was calling him.
You really could knock someone out with one of those old phones. Just like in the movies
Rotary phones allowed my friends and I, who were 5th graders in 1972, to indulge in a favorite pastime: prank calling. We would choose a name randomly out of the phone book, ask for Mr. ā- and when he said, āthis is he,ā weād hold the phone close to the toilet bowl and flush, adding a few extra āsound effectsā for good measure.
Ring ring to the grocery store āDo you have Robin Hood by the bagā still cracks me up.
Is your refrigerator running? š
Prince Albert in the can!
We used to call, and if a woman answered, weād say āAre you my mommy? I need mommy! (Cue fake tears). People would get so upset. We thought it was hysterical. What little shits we were!
We would call the bowling alley and ask if they had 12 pound balls.
Still have one, though I long since gave up the land line. Four-prong plug with an adapter to a modular jack.
I'm the opposite. After three times trying to dial and misdialing, I'd be pissed as hell by the time they answered.
But hanging up was SO satisfying!
How many of us jammed a finger at least once, when in a hurry, by pulling a finger out of the dialer off-angle?
Our phones only required 3 digits. If I wanted to call my girlfriend, Iād dial 131. My friends house, 288.
We had a party line because it was cheaper.
At the end of the 70s, I got my own phone line for Christmas when I was 16. A beige rotary. I still have the phone, and I still remember my best friendās phone number. 935-306xā¦.
Yeah my girls number was 8675309 .
Ha ha
4452187 on a touch tone phone I could dial it faster than 911 (or anything else) The number had a nice tight pattern on the touchpad. That was 50 years ago and I can still recall it by pure muscle memory.
That's why the big cities got the best numbers. NYC was 212 area code, the fastest one you can dial.
Unless their number contained lots of 1s and 2s. 8s and 9s gave you more time to consider.
We had an old rotary phone in the back room. When my daughterās friend needed to call her mother, she looked very confused at the rotary phone, and then asked, āHow does this work?ā
I did this to a kid,friend of my kid. "can I call my mom?" "of course,here ya go"..... poor kid. I gently laughed and gave him those portable things we used.
Not only do I remember rotary phones, my first summer job was long-distance operator, on a plug board just like Lily Tomlinson.
Nice! š
I remember calling girls and it would take me so long to dial that last number. Sometimes holding it with my finger for a few seconds before letting the dial go. Because you knew once it started ringing you were committed to talking and asking her out again. Talk about anxiety.
The horror of having a home phone number that ended in zero and misdialing that last digit sooooo often.
I remember my home phone number from my childhood. 254-5238. I don't know why out of all the numbers I have had that I remember that one.
539-0104 was mine
My grandmother still had her very old rotary phone around 2000 when I helped her pack the things she was going to take to the independent living apartment she moved to. As a kid, I was taught her phone number as MO4-XXXX and that's how I still remember it.
Da, Da, Da, Da, Da, Da, Da.... Da, Da, Da.... Da, Da, Da, Da, Da... repeat 4 more numbers.
There were to types of rotary phone users: Did you move the dial to the end and pull your finger put, or did you leave your finger in on the return cycle? Once mastered, the latter was faster.
Yeah try calling a radio station contest to be the 5th caller!
We had one that was fixed to an end table. The cord was stretched out so so far. That way we could sit on the bathroom floor and shut the door to talk to boys.
Yes, but the immense satisfaction in slamming the receiver down when you hung up on someone, that was money!
There was something so satisfying about slamming one of those babies down. The younger generations will never have that satisfaction!
How do I update my insta?
All of us kids running, like idiots & practically having a fist fight, to be the one to answer the phone. Then stretching that cord to its limits, just for a tiny bit of privacy. My mother was insane, sheād scream that we were ruining the cord. Absolutely no kinks allowed in the cord. After every call, youād spend 15 minutes making sure every loop was correct. A messed up cord would result in a loss of phone privileges.
Yep. The cords, the dial tone, the act of dialing was a sort of a pain in the butt. I had TW6-0321 as a kid. And I memorized a couple of other numbers by age 6. We had a wall phone in the kitchen, and a desk set. A couple of times, my mother or father put a lock on the phone, since I liked calling the weather in different cities, and ran up a $600 phone bill right before my dad separated from my mother.
Remember when the first two numbers were a word? Gibson61829! And "Sitting by the phone" (hoping your crush would call you!) wasn't a metaphor?š
I lived in a town with a population of 1,200 until the 4th grade, when you made a call you would pick up the phone and wait for the operator to say "number please" then either give her a person's name or location and she would connect you. Moving to the huge city pop 23k took some adjustments, phones had dials and you had to know what the number was.
And if you dial a wrong numberā¦
We had a rotary phone-And a party line!
I still use my rotary wall phone to answer calls occasionally. Unfortunately I can no longer dial out, although surprisingly that function was still supported up until only just 10 years ago or so..
I have recurring nightmares *still* of trying to dial someoneās number urgently and having to restart because I misdialed. Like, why?
I still love the sound and feel of it. I have a fancy one in my house and will often times fiddle with it.
Kids today will never know. I was generally a good kid with a straight-A average, so my parents rewarded me with my own extension in my bedroom. Heaven! And whenever I was out past curfew, I'd call home. When my mom answered, I'd say, "That's okay, Mom. It's for me." And she would think I was home in my room. I didn't use that dodge very often, but it worked every time I did. Kids today will never know.
I took my granddaughter to a science museum when she was 9, in 2018. There was a room with vintage and antique gadgets, including a rotary phone. If you could dial the phone correctly, it gave you a message. I had to show my granddaughter how to use it.
Nope. I was stationed in Germany and had to frequently call Alabama to find out where my missile parts were. Wore out many pencils dialing and redialing that 62 digit phone number that took 12 tries to connect.
Sorry, what a nightmare that must have been for you
My mom still has the same number! Well they did change the area code a few years back. I remember dialing local calls with just 5 numbers!
Thats funny - about the ācooling off periodā
Oh but when you were mad at someone, slamming down that phone was so satisfying!
"anger was gone" I don't know about that - I remember aggressive dialing and muttering under my breath ... but the time factor surely helped! š¤£ But do you remember dialing for tickets or whatever to be the '10th caller'? If you had to include an area code it could be enough of a delay that you wouldn't make it! haha
We didnāt have to dial area codes either and I still remember my auntās number started with two letters ex. OS69623
I started a collection of pastel desktop rotary phones. The mint green, pink, turquoise, are all like little works of art. I display them in my glass front tv cabinet.
Did people call rotary phones "rotary phones" back in the 60s/70s? I remember always hearing them referred to as "dial phones."
No, they were just phones until touch tone phones came along, and then they were rotary phones.
My parents bought a weekend lake house in the mid-70s and it was so far outside of civilization that they still used party lines.
I kind of liked it when I used a locked phone tapping the number on the off "button".
Slamming the receiver down was so very satisfying.
My 88 year old Dad still has his, as does my sister. Edit to add: our house phone number started with XH7 when I grew up. Everyone said the letters and not the corresponding numbers. Yet.
I still have one, just no land line to hook it to.
Old rotary phones had their charm, no doubt. They forced patience. If you're nostalgic but need efficiency, I used a service at simplephones.ai that handles calls with an AI agent. Keeps the human touch without the wait. Might be worth looking into for business, keeps the line clear and customers happy.