To wonder when we stopped reciting our number when answering the phone

[bearbehind]

Not sure why this popped into my head but it occurred to me that when I was growing up in the 80's everyone used to pick up the phone and say their number.

I can still remember some friend numbers 30 years later as I can hear their Mum's answering the phone but I couldn't tell you my husbands mobile number now.

When did everyone stop doing this? Were we all subliminally conditioned to stop on the same day?

[bearbehind]

I think we stopped about the same time as shopkeepers stopped counting your change out to you

I think that's a bit different as this no longer happens as many shop assistants are incapable of doing it nowadays, evidenced when your bill comes to £4.05 and you give then a tenner then offer the 5p and they decline as they can only give you the change the till tells them to

[pontefractals]

My dad said that giving your phone number started in the days of public phone boxes with button A and button B. You'd put your coin in the slot, dial the number, the person would answer by stating their number. If it was the number you'd intended to ring, you'd press button A, your coin would drop and you could speak to them, if not you'd press button B to get your coin back.
It was a lot easier to misdial on a ring dial.
My mum remembers as a child going round local phone boxes and pressing button B in case anyone had forgotten to pick up the coin.
Dad also remembers exchanges that worked like the one Bewitched mentioned above, in Lancashire in the 40s and 50s.

[Lweji]

For the most part I know who's calling due to caller display, so I know they meant to speak to me (except from my dad's mobile).
So, I tend to say hello, X.

If it's a private number, it tends to be cold callers, so I take great pleasure in pointing out that they don't even know which number has answered or what my name is supposed to be.

[thesockgap]

Up until my mum moved house 14 years ago, she ALWAYS answered the phone with her number! But just the last 4 digits - eg. if her number was "0121 457 8385" she'd always answer with "8385?" in a posh phone voice. Used to crack my DH up when we first met as he'd never heard anyone do that before!

Also, a school friend of mine had a dad who thought he was funnier than he actually was. We used to cringe when we rang as he'd answer and say (eg) "four million, five hundred and eighty two thousand, six hundred and twelve" !

[BertieBotts]

I remember my parents doing it into the 90s. My grandad was a telephone engineer for BT and had always insisted it was the proper way. I think even he doesn't recite his number any more though, although I haven't called him in a while.

[MyLlamasGoneBananas]

Oh my word this brings back memories.
My mum always used to answer the phone and taught us as kids to answer it saying our village and full telephone number

Something like "Midsomer 224367". My dad was a travelling salesman that worked from home and I used to answer the phone and take messages quite a lot. I apparent often gad lots comments made to my parents at how polite and how properly I answered the phone!!

[emwithme]

I've just started a new job after not working for 5 years. Every time I answer the phone, I want to say "Good Morning/Afternoon Emwithme speaking" and have to really stop myself and make myself say "" instead. They are two ENTIRELY different jobs, in entirely different sectors, in entirely different firms (there are 10 people in my new firm, there were about 700 in the old place), entirely different buildings...why do I want to do this?

thesockgap that made me giggle, it's just the kind of thing my uncle would do.

[EBearhug]

I don't think I ever answered with anything other than "Hello" - I might have said god morning/afternoon/evening, because I do remember deliberately swapping to just "hello" when I first worked for a multinational company and spoke to people who weren't in the morning or whatever as I was.

I do know my childhood phone number, and my best friend's (which is still her parents' number.)

My father always answered with, "John Smith, Our Farm," in a very sing song tone, dipping in the middle and rising at the end. He did this when answering, and when calling, when someone responded at the other end, which always seemed weird to me that he answered the phone, even when he had dialled the call. (Well, he used his actual name and the actual farm name. And quite often there was a long "uuh", at the start.)

[JC23]

My Grandad always answers the phone "Brentwood Sewage Works" because he's a joker

[bearbehind]

I've been asking about this IRL and it seems no one really knows when they stopped doing it- they all used to do it and now don't but don't remeber stopping- I'm sticking with my subliminal phone fairy who tells us to stop but this thread has shown there are some people the fairy still has to visit

[EBearhug]

I have a feeling I may have weaned myself off answering the home phone with any specifics after answersing if I were at work a few times in the mid-'90s.

[OhGrace]

I remember hearing the advice in the 90's that saying the number is a bad idea in case pranksters dial randomly; if you say the number it's easier for them to keep calling back.

This, My Dad made us stop doing it in the 90s for this reason.

[Blondeshavemorefun]

My dad still does it at home

Bless him

I don't. I just say hello

[UrgentSchoolHelp]

Absolutely remember my grandmother doing this, even when London went up to 11 digits.

I think a lot of people stopped around 1990??

[Hygellig]

My grandparents used to say their number (they died in 2002) but I don't recall my parents ever doing so. I say Hello and DH says his full name. (We don't have a landline that displays the caller's number).

[MustBeThursday]

My nan used to do this. My MIL still does. I go with "Hello". Occasionally "Hiya" or "All right" depending on if I know who it is...

Bogburglar I can confirm that your father was entirely correct about people not listening - in a previous place of work I used to answer the phone with "Hello, workplace/department name, MustBeThursday speaking" to which I frequently got the reply, "Hello, is that the mayor's office?"

[ZigZagIntoTheBlue]

My gran does this, so when I answer her phone I do too! It's just habit from hearing her do it as I grew up and it wouldn't occur to me to do it anywhere else!

[torthecatlady]

This has brought the memories flooding back!!
I can still now remember some of my friends phone numbers by remembering what their parents said when answering the phone..
I was born in 1990 and I would do this when it was a number I didn't recognise on caller ID, if I saw a number I knew it was generally just a "Hello?" in a bored teenager type of voice

[FlyRussianUnicorn]

I called one of my older co workers they other day and she answered saying the number which made me a bit. Clearly im the strange one!

[ouryve]

After I left home in the 80s, I never did it again.

And after we had a break in, in the mid-90s, I never again used the piece of card that slotted into the phone to write my number down. I had to get that number changed after a glut of silent calls.

[Juanbablo]

My grandparents always did it. My grandad still does but only the last 3 digits eg 567. Never heard anyone else do it.

[Klaptrap]

I still do this - when answering my land-line anyway.

[SanityClause]

Like ouryve, I used to do it when I lived with my parents, but never did it with a phone in my own home, after I moved out of their house in the late 80s.

When we moved into a new house, when I was about 8, we were given the telephone number of an insurance company who had closed their office in our town. We used to get a lot of calls for this company, so we used to say, "Their ThisTown office has now closed down, but I can give you their NearbyCity number, if you'd like?"

[Hamstar19]

In my family we had a whole rhyme that started with the telephone number.

When people first had phone a young girl would be the operator mannually connecting lines. You would phone the operator and the operator would ask for the number you want/ who you want to call and the operator would connect the line. Confirming the area and the number (which used to be just three or four digits) helped in the process.

By the eighties most phone calls were automatically connected but you could still phone the operator to connect you or reverse the charges. I know in those days wrong numbers seemed to be a bigger issue than they are now.

In the 1990s massive advances were made in telecommunication. Exchanges were digitalised and faster connections meant caller id was possible. Less need for a human operator.

I speak to older people a lot on the phone and it is funny how many of them don't know the actual area code just Solihull 123 456

[drivingmisspotty]

I remember this too

At work and if I don't recognise the number calling on my mobile I answer with 'Hello, Driving speaking'. The number of jokers who say eg 'Hello Driving Speaking, it's Sheila Speaking here'. I don't get it. I just don't get the joke. If I were I answer 'Hello, Driving' it would sound like I thought Driving was on the other end and I was greeting her, the 'speaking' makes more sense surely. Can anyone enlighten me as to why this is supposed to be funny?