Interesting that, on the one hand, the phrase 'dial direct' is used as a compound verb, and the instructions do not say 'dial directly.' On the other, the classic fussy English teacher bugbear about ending sentences with a preposition is observed: 'signals for which to listen.' To hell with American idiom! God forbid anyone say, 'signals to listen for.'
A standard cheap punchline in entertainment is some tech-savvy kid confronting an old dial-phone and going all like, 'Whaaa-at???' A chuckle for the boomers! Kids, amirite! My wife grew up small town, south of the Mason-Dixon line, and her first phone experiences were along the lines of 'Hello, Central, can you connect me to Ginni over on Green St?' That was still how things worked in rural Maine until at least the late 60s.
I grew up in suburban Boston and remember clearly the early 50s switch from the clunky Bakelite dial phone to the sleek plastic moderne one. But our number stayed the same: ASpinwall 7-7723.
Interesting that, on the one hand, the phrase 'dial direct' is used as a compound verb, and the instructions do not say 'dial directly.' On the other, the classic fussy English teacher bugbear about ending sentences with a preposition is observed: 'signals for which to listen.' To hell with American idiom! God forbid anyone say, 'signals to listen for.'
ReplyDeleteA standard cheap punchline in entertainment is some tech-savvy kid confronting an old dial-phone and going all like, 'Whaaa-at???' A chuckle for the boomers! Kids, amirite! My wife grew up small town, south of the Mason-Dixon line, and her first phone experiences were along the lines of 'Hello, Central, can you connect me to Ginni over on Green St?' That was still how things worked in rural Maine until at least the late 60s.
I grew up in suburban Boston and remember clearly the early 50s switch from the clunky Bakelite dial phone to the sleek plastic moderne one. But our number stayed the same: ASpinwall 7-7723.