Snoop Dog Ain't Got Nuthin' on Me

[Chromatix]

In some places in Britain, people still say "Littleborough 4567", since that was what you had to tell the operator before the automatic trunk system was introduced. If you were already in Littleborough, you could dial 4567 straight away. Local delivery vans and shop premises still often use the old system for advertising.

Nowadays, what you have to dial is more like 01706 824567. If you are already local, you dial 824567, since the 01706 area code covers a decent chunk of the Pennine industrial belt, not just one or two towns. Fortunately the phone directories in Britain have an index for converting the old exchange names to the new prefixes.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

I still get the occasional person who will give me a phone number in 7-digit format. Usually if I know where they're calling from I realize why - they are in a location where the population is sparse and everyone has the same area code still. Most of us here in the US and even Canada, though, almost always have to use our area codes now, so it's just natural to give the whole thing to someone.

[EricKei]

For some reason, I keep thinking "Transylvania 6-5000" every time I read this thread. Been a loooong time since I last saw that movie, too...

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Quoth EricKei

For some reason, I keep thinking "Transylvania 6-5000" every time I read this thread. Been a loooong time since I last saw that movie, too...

...Which is, of course, a poke at PEnnsylvania 6-5000...

[Argabarga]

They may not do it anymore, but whenever someone had to give out a phone number in The Simpsons, they used to use numbers that were expressed as "KLondike - 55555" , a joke on the fact that "555" is a fictional phone exchange in the US and only ever gets used in fictional works where someone needs to discuss a phone number, but they don't want to use a real one that people will then pester the real owner of just to "see if it works" and that it meant Springfield had a horribly antiquated phone system using 1950's opeator patched tech in the 1990's, this being before widespread cellphone use, everyone still had a land line and probably "got" the joke that nowadays would just go over your head if you didn't know a little history.

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.

[EricKei]

Quoth Argabarga

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 >_<