Snoop Dog Ain't Got Nuthin' on Me

[EricKei]

When the song "Jenny" came out in 1982, the unlucky few who had the number 867-5309 in an area where that was a valid exchange quickly had to change it, for obvious reasons.

It's my understanding that the band (Tommy Tutone, iirc) *still* gets the occasional lawsuit over that from people who have had the misfortune to inherit such a number, due to massive amounts of prank calls.

As for 555 -- well, it's real, but presumably reserved. The only number I know of that uses it (in the US) is 1+(area code)+555-1212. It's the number for National Directory Assistance.

[Jester]

EK, as far as I know, that is the ONLY use of that exchange. I have never met a person with it, nor have I ever seen a number with it, and I have lived in many states, and traveled to many more....and other than the national directory assistance (and the more regional directory assistance numbers that mirror it*), I have never seen it use by any business, person, residence, or government agency.

(*For example, if you were living in Texas but needed a number in the Keys, and for whatever reason didn't want to call 411, you would dial 305-555-1212. In some cases, that is more cost-effective to do....especially with most cell phones that don't charge any more for local or long-distance calls.)

[EricKei]

Jester -- that's pretty much what I thought. That explains why fictional stories use 555-xxxx all the time. Although, for some reason, I have seen fictional shows/etc using 555-1212 >_<