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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

PARTY LINES

We were on a "party line" when living in DeRidder, LA - the same phone number was assigned to several homes.  Each phone was designated a certain number of rings, and I remember hearing the "click-click-click" signal that others had picked up the phone also.  A pay phone was the best place for private phone conversations. 

6 comments:

  1. I remember phones that didn't have any numbers or dials on them. We had to talk to operators...Things sure have changed.

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  2. So, party lines were advanced technology after all.

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  3. We never had a party line, but I remember those kind of dial-up public phones. There used to be one on every city corner in NYC, and not a single one ever worked. They had all either been vandalized or were simply "out of order".

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  4. Do you remember the short-lived fad of trying to get as many people as possible in a phone booth? I never knew the record number.

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  5. I didn't grow up with them, but my mom did. Not knowing who was listening in? Talk about a great (and creepy) way to keep the conversation in line!

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    Replies
    1. It was rather creepy, although after awhile we learned who was on our line and that helped somewhat. My family only had one phone and it was on the wall in the kitchen so I was concerned about what I said anyway.

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