Two teenagers trying to figure out how to dial a phone

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jimmy m
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11 Jan 2019, 10:34 am

I came across this video. It is two 17-year old teenagers trying to figure out how to dial a phone number using a rotary phone. It was hilarious.
Watch 2 adorably clueless teens, 17, baffled by a rotary phone

This is probably one of the reasons why I drive a stick shift sports car today. Most thieves today are baffled about how to steal one because they don't know how to drive one.


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EzraS
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11 Jan 2019, 10:38 am

That thing is a phone? 8O



jimmy m
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11 Jan 2019, 11:07 am

EzraS wrote:
That thing is a phone? 8O


Rotary phones were used from around 1900 until 1980 when they were phased out. Rotary phones were the cell phones of today when I grew up.


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11 Jan 2019, 11:13 am

I remember having to build a digital device that simulated a rotary phone!



jimmy m
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11 Jan 2019, 11:33 am

My dad invented and built a rotary clock that simulated a digital clock. That was long before there was ever a digital clock. It used cam wheels.


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11 Jan 2019, 12:13 pm

That was depressing to watch!


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11 Jan 2019, 12:23 pm

I hate how most companies now have a system where you have to push a button to talk to someone. Rotary phones don't have buttons so how am I supposed to get the help I need?

If you like things like this, check out Kids React on YouTube. They show kids things like a VCR or a typewriter and ask them if they know what it is or how it works. They have no clue, it's great.



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11 Jan 2019, 12:48 pm

Did anyone here grow up with a "party line"? I did not, but I had a great-uncle/aunt who lived on a farm and had one. I stayed at their farm for a week when I was a kid and saw how a party line worked.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, a "party line" was a land line telephone in which numerous neighbors shared the same telephone line. If you wanted to make a call, you'd first have to listen to your telephone for a bit to see if any of your neighbors were using the line. You would be able to hear their entire conversation and vice versa.



jimmy m
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11 Jan 2019, 1:06 pm

Magna wrote:
Did anyone here grow up with a "party line"? I did not, but I had a great-uncle/aunt who lived on a farm and had one. I stayed at their farm for a week when I was a kid and saw how a party line worked.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, a "party line" was a land line telephone in which numerous neighbors shared the same telephone line. If you wanted to make a call, you'd first have to listen to your telephone for a bit to see if any of your neighbors were using the line. You would be able to hear their entire conversation and vice versa.


I think party lines were the center of gossip because many nosey neighbors listened in on your conversations. So nothing was really private.


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11 Jan 2019, 6:13 pm


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11 Jan 2019, 6:52 pm

Wow, just wow, I hope that is scripted. If not, good going, teens
*facepalm*


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11 Jan 2019, 7:13 pm

jimmy m wrote:
EzraS wrote:
That thing is a phone? 8O


Rotary phones were used from around 1900 until 1980 when they were phased out. Rotary phones were the cell phones of today when I grew up.


I've never used one to make a call, but I've seen them in antique shops and seen them used plenty of times in movies and tv shows.

It is pretty funny that they're like cavemen trying to figure out how it works.

I bet this teenager not only knows how to use one but could take it apart and reassemble it.



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11 Jan 2019, 7:28 pm

Rotary phones really weren't that abundant, actually, until the 1940s.

You should watch the movie "The Front Page" (1931). There's lots of conversations on phones where you had to call the operator to connect to another person.



Last edited by kraftiekortie on 11 Jan 2019, 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

EzraS
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11 Jan 2019, 7:35 pm

"Hello operator? Get me Klondike 604! Mrs Peterson get off the line, I need to make a call!"



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11 Jan 2019, 7:38 pm

Yep. Exactly.

Even in the 1960s, many phone numbers had two letters as the start of the number. My number growing up was TW6-0321. TW stood for "Twickenham." The number would have been expressed as "Twickenham 6, 0321" in the old days.

A very famous NYC exchange was "MU," which stood for "Murray Hill." Murray Hill is a fashionable part of Manhattan.

"Klondike" would have started with "KL." If you look at a rotary phone, you see the letters which correspond to the numbers.



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11 Jan 2019, 7:55 pm

That was funny I must say the rotary phones were easier to use the problem with them was you couldn't walk around with them i was glad when I got my first cordless phone.