I remember moving to Buffalo to go back to graduate school in 1963 and noticing how they held on to a vestige of "meaning" in telephone exchange names. For example, we have heard of TRenton or GLenshaw (outside Pittsburgh where I once lived) and they make some sense. In Buffalo, there was a TX (not for Texas) and a TL that stood for nothing at all; it _was_ a two-letter prefix, though. I moved from there is '66 and I don't recall whether they'd gone all-digit by then or not. DKH
David K. Hogberg, PhD Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Albion College, Albion MI 49224 [EMAIL PROTECTED] home phone: 517/629-4834 >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 08/27/05 10:30 AM >>> Okay, I can't resist any more. My experience with phone numbers is vividly etched in my mind. My experience is from Trenton, NJ (the fun capitol of the country). From the time I was born until I was about 7 (1946), our number was 8463. At about 7 it was changed to 8-8463 and within two years was changed to TRenton 8-8463. At 11 (1950) I moved to Rahway, NJ where the number was RAhway 7-3979 until it changed when I was 14 (just starting high school in 1953) to 729-3979. When I was 18, we moved again to a quaint little town in south Jersey named Leesburg and our number there was 711 R11. A 8 party line, but we only got four different rings and ours was a long and a short. The curious thing about this - and this is where it is psychologically related - the only other phone number that I have had or have is my current number. I can't even remember the number I had before I moved within the town I live in now only 5 years ago. I use this example when talking about memory in the intro course, but I can't remember for the life of my why I use it. On Aug 26, 2005, at 2:25 PM, Beth Benoit wrote: > I suspect that one of the reasons for the change from name > exchanges (Butterfield, Murray Hill, etc.) was to overcome spelling > confusion. > > In my hometown (Lima, Ohio), I remember when phone numbers went > from five numbers to a name + 5 numbers. Our exchange was > "Catherine" (22), named after the wife of the phone company's > owner. Naturally, that got to be confusing, because operators were > likely to spell it beginning with a "K." Switching to all numbers > made much more sense. > Dr. Bob Wildlbood Lecturer in Psychology Indiana University Kokomo Kokomo, IN 56904-9003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
