I worked with a girl who didn't know what VHS was, and another who said that she wouldn't know how to use a rotary phone is it was put in front of her.
Telephone first?
- Thread starter Grant
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I worked with a girl who didn't know what VHS was, and another who said that she wouldn't know how to use a rotary phone is it was put in front of her.
Well, the website points out a continuity problem with the phone, not that it was necessarily its first appearance.
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You should watch people try and figure out a candlestick phone.
At first there was a lot of resistance to all-digit phone numbers. Pundits and comedians claimed we were being "dehumanized" by having to remember seven numbers instead of a name and five numbers. What would they have thought of today's system where you have to punch eleven numbers just to make a local call?
As for "party lines" -- today that has a completely different meaning.
You just put your finger in the hole and make tiny little circles.
You just put your finger in the hole and make tiny little circles.[/QUOTE]
"But how do you know what number you're dialing?"
I'm not kidding.
Ooh! That's right! I forgot about the older bulky connectors! Obviously, mine is not totally vintage. It has the contemporary landline "clip". I inherited two of the phones from my father and he died in 1977. I don't recall a technician upgrading them since then, but my memory is often faulty.
Sincerely,
Bill
There is an entire population that thinks the # key was put there solely for Twitter. I call them Twits....but I am sure there is a nicer word. How can I blame them though? How would they know?
But you raise a more interesting point. And this post will be too long - lol.
I can intuitively operate basically all consumer electronics - I suspect you can too. I know how to set the stations on the car stereo without a manual. I can make a call on anyone's phone regardless of operating system. I can use any of the popular OS's where there is a gui (and many where there is not). I didn't have to open the manual for my FireTV or Playstation or Wii. I can set up a home stereo, surround, whatever you want. And I am not special - and I am not some engineer. We have been surrounded for decades by these devices. On occasion (as with my new microwave) the manufacturer gets a dim idea and forces it on us - like having to tell the microwave I am going to cook something before I can put the time in (Hey Frigidaire, It's a bloody microwave...this ain't ET and I am not phoning home with it.). I can figure it out. But generally, it's intuitive. And here you point out someone who can't use a VCR basically because they are too intimidated to push the button clearly labeled "Play" - or even consider it.
I am reminded of a woman on a camping trip who was distressed trying to get water. She didn't know how to operate the spigot because it was one of the ones where you pull up the handle to operate - rather than turn. I live in a desert and here is a woman who might have died of thirst a meter from an endless water source because she was too afraid to try (and being female is not the issue).
I am fairly certain I will have a post apocalyptic value if for no other reason than I can turn on the water...'cuz they don't make an app for that.
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I think at some point in the 70's they switched to a modular cable/cord. I remember in our old house we had to get special cables for the phones (70's). Ah, good times. I recall my father would use the phones as a makeshift intercom system. He would dial out number and wait for the "trucking" signal (a busy tone kinda) and then hang up. In a few seconds the phones would "ring back". He would wait for someone to pick up (ringing stops) and then pick up himself and we could talk (for about a minute before the off hook signal started). That way he could yell at me about something in the kitchen while he was in the garage. Good times
Well, as I suspected, my memory was indeed faulty. I looked at the two phones in question. One, having a "Silly Putty" biege color was actually my grandmother's as it still has the phone number typed upon a circular piece of paper inserted in the center of the dial. On the underside, there's a sticker noting a technician worked upon it in April 1981. That seems a reasonable as to when the cord could have been upgraded to the current style of clip, The end of the cord attached to the phone itself is "hard" rather than modular for easy detachment.
The second phone, more of a "goldenrod" hue, was possibly one I "inherited" from my late father. There was no inspection sticker adhered to it, but this one has the contemporary "jack" where a current land-line cord can be clipped. I can only assume it was re-engineered around the same time, the early 80s. I simply forgot someone came to upgrade them.
Sincerely,
Bill
It's understandable they wouldn't know how to use a device they've never used in their lives.
I always think it's odd that futuristic characters (Kirk, Picard, etc.) when presented with a 19th- or 20th-Century phone, immediately know how to use it. That seems unlikely.
My current home phone number has been passed down through the family for almost 70 years! 
It started out as just 4 digits, through an named exchange (DIamond), and now just a regular 7 digit number, not counting the area code.
The Hotel Pennsylvania still exists, and still uses the numerical verison of its famous telephone number!
It started out as just 4 digits, through an named exchange (DIamond), and now just a regular 7 digit number, not counting the area code. The Hotel Pennsylvania still exists, and still uses the numerical verison of its famous telephone number!
There is an entire population that thinks the # key was put there solely for Twitter. I call them Twits....but I am sure there is a nicer word. How can I blame them though? How would they know?
But you raise a more interesting point. And this post will be too long - lol.
I can intuitively operate basically all consumer electronics - I suspect you can too. I know how to set the stations on the car stereo without a manual. I can make a call on anyone's phone regardless of operating system. I can use any of the popular OS's where there is a gui (and many where there is not). I didn't have to open the manual for my FireTV or Playstation or Wii. I can set up a home stereo, surround, whatever you want. And I am not special - and I am not some engineer. We have been surrounded for decades by these devices. On occasion (as with my new microwave) the manufacturer gets a dim idea and forces it on us - like having to tell the microwave I am going to cook something before I can put the time in (Hey Frigidaire, It's a bloody microwave...this ain't ET and I am not phoning home with it.). I can figure it out. But generally, it's intuitive. And here you point out someone who can't use a VCR basically because they are too intimidated to push the button clearly labeled "Play" - or even consider it.
I am reminded of a woman on a camping trip who was distressed trying to get water. She didn't know how to operate the spigot because it was one of the ones where you pull up the handle to operate - rather than turn. I live in a desert and here is a woman who might have died of thirst a meter from an endless water source because she was too afraid to try (and being female is not the issue).
I am fairly certain I will have a post apocalyptic value if for no other reason than I can turn on the water...'cuz they don't make an app for that.
With the advent of HDMI,hooking up a TV is much easier than it was just a few short years ago - there was NOTHING more difficult than trying get the prongs of an S-Video lined up JUST right so it would actually hook in....
This made me think of Kirk driving the car (standard transmission) in "A Piece of the Action" albeit badly but he managed on the effort. Granted went in reverse with a fender banger and then herky and jerky driving.
I learned how to drive on a standard and first couple of cars were standards. I love them but if you stuck my 18 year old in one (or anyone who hasn't driven one) - they would have no clue on what to do even if Spock was there telling them there is a clutch and gear shift.
Still one of my favorite episodes though..
I'm sure most of today's young people have seen at least one old movie or TV program showing someone using a rotary dial phone. Hell, I'm sure I'd be able to start a car that has a starter button and a manual choke -- not that I've ever needed to.
Well, to turn this momentarily back to post #1--I checked Bewitched season 4--equivalent to TOS season 2 and no push button phones in site. But damn there are rotary phones galore and they talk on them a lot!
And because rotary dialing is kind of time consuming they always cut in after the person has dialed or the last couple of rotary digits are being dialed.
So if any show beat TOS in being the first to show touch tone phones--it wasn't Bewitched. They got one for sure the next season.
Please continue the nostalgia talk--us old timers like it!
And because rotary dialing is kind of time consuming they always cut in after the person has dialed or the last couple of rotary digits are being dialed.
So if any show beat TOS in being the first to show touch tone phones--it wasn't Bewitched. They got one for sure the next season.
Please continue the nostalgia talk--us old timers like it!
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