Cause for funny looks

my favorite is mentioning pre-VCR days to younger relatives.if you weren't there,you missed the show. they look horrified LOL. we didn't quite have party lines still in town when i was younger (although they crossed sometimes in storms) but some areas of town did still have letter designations for the first 2 "numbers" of the phone number.

LOL - I thought that was strange too the first time I heard it I must admit. But once I thought about it it made since. I'm fairy young so most things that were when I was young are around now so I haven't had this happen to me personally but I'm quite sure their have been many I time I've give those strange looks. I imagine my kids or their kids will think it odd about record players and having no caller ID - which I admit I don't know how I'd live without that!

Hello Emeraldisle, Yeah, we had a party line for a while back in the 70's. It was horrible. But, then again we were a household of seven; two adults and five kids. We didn't have it very long before the grumblings of teens drove my parents to get a private line. My mom passed away in '98, and she elected to have a party line for several years before she passed away. She rarely used the phone, and it was much less expensive than a private line. She was also completely disabled. So, the primary need for a phone was to dial 911. And, if the other party was on the line, she could always ask them to call for help, which was ultimately easier for her because in addition to her other disabilities, she was legally blind. Oh, and what tales of yesteryear have I shared that cause a look of complete incredulity? Well, explaining "Pong", as the origin of video games always gets me 'that stare'. That and the fact that we actually used to play sports in "Keds" or "Converse high-tops" instead of the myriad of tennis shoes available today, usually generates fits of hysterical laughter. Which I completely understand. Sometimes I can hardly believe that at one time Pro-Keds were considered high-tech.

I get the same response when I tell my kids gas used to cost 17 cents a gallon and when the four stations on each corner of an intersection got into a price war, it could drop to 14 cents. For either price, the attendant pumped your gas (no self serve) checked your oil and water, washed the windshield and checked the air pressure in your tires. When you paid (after your tank was filled and all services provided) you might get a bonus, like dishes or glassware. And trading stamps. Remember Blue Chip stamps and S&H Green stamps. I remember pasting them into books and then Mom would take them to the redemption center and get kitched items or household decor. Her favorite was a cuckoo clock that hung in our dining room for years and drove Dad crazy.

i remember having talked about this with my kids. i used to opt for the one wherein the charge is much higher because it was meant to be an exclusive number. this came about at a time when we received a wrong call. i said i don't understand why people will still dial a wrong number when there are supposedly no more partylines these days. and so i went on explaining what partylines are on the phone and why there are such things as party lines. people who keep on dialing a wrong number is very irritating these days before, it was a very common thing.

Yes, emeraldisle, I have had the same response from my kids. It's like I grew up on another planet. We lived in a rural community where we also had party lines. Looking back now, I can think of how much fun it was (at times). Sometimes, however, it could get ugly when someone asked you to give up the line so they could use it. Especially when I was a teen.

I remember the party lines. Every time we pick up the phone and you can hear the conversations from other pweople then all of suden everybody is talking to each other and I don't remember who they were and we had to wait for them to fisish to us the phone so we can and it sure was hard to use it back then I am so glad we don't have that anymore. My daughter often thinks we are strange after we tell her things and yet we listened to our grandparents talk about their days when there was no cars back then.It's a good lesson of the histories in our time.

Isn't that something, I had someone mention the word party line to me a week ago and I thought they were talking about the one where you shared a phone line with someone else. I hadn't hear that term used in ages. And, here it is again. Of course, they meant the one that your daughter is referring to.