How many of you are old enough to remember "the party line"?

In todays age and the cell phone mania that seems to have taken control of over most of us (I still don't own one), I want to bring up something that I grew up with, The Pary Line......

Nope, it has nothing to do with politics at all. Nor is it a way to meet what you think may be really hot chics! It is in reference to the telephone!

I can remember as a child, picking up the telephone, (BTW, it was a big ugly black thing that hung on our wall) to make a phone call, to hear one of my neighbors talking to someone!! Yep, it's true! It actually became a game to see if we (my brother and I) could do it with out them hearing the audible click when we picked the headset up to listen.....lol It clicked all the time so no matter how sneaky we were, the only thing that would have made us undetectable was if the two people talking, didn't hear us....

Anyhow, for any of you who can remember this, back in the good ole days, it was a thing know to only those who had very good paying jobs, to be able to afford a "private" phone line dedicated soley for their use when they wanted to or needed to use their phone. Other than that, a party line could have 3 to 4 neighbors that used the same dedicated line.

Imagine having an emergency and you had to pick up your telephone, to hear the same neighbor still chatting to leave you no choice but to interrupt them and say, "Excuse me? I have an emergency and really need to use the phone!"! It makes me shudder to think in todays world what would happen if we would still be stuck with this kind of technology.........

Oh well, just some ramblings from an ole fart, and I thought I would share one of my old memorys with you younguns whom have never heard of such a thing......

reply to post by seeker1963


I never had a party line on my phones.I remember playing on the beepline
as a teen.

reply to post by seeker1963


I do indeed remember the "party line." I can remember my grandmother at times being one of the interminable gossips, and other times complaining about someone else being an interminable gossip.

One of my aunts occasionally slapped my hand for picking up the phone and listening in--although she did the exact same thing. Now that I think about it, I don't recall that there was any particular protocol about listening in, or even joining in. I think it was just according to one's personal sociabilities....

I grew up in a small farm town in Quebec , there were 4 families on our line ! Our ring was one long ring , one short , one long ring !!

reply to post by Ex_CT2

I do indeed remember the "party line." I can remember my grandmother at times being one of the interminable gossips, and other times complaining about someone else being an interminable gossip.

So true!!!! I can remember my mother complaining about the gossipers and then low and behold she would be on it doing the same thing......so funny!

reply to post by seeker1963


Yes, we had a party line with six people on it when I was growing up. As time went on we got it down to four people, then just two, and eventually when I was a teenager we got a private line.

The good ole days, indeed!

Geez, you folks are ancient!

Oh alright. Yes, I remember it well. I used to get myself in trouble trying to avoid that same click you mentioned OP. For some reason, my parents weren't as amused as I was though.

You are all older than rocks................
me too i remember the challenge of trying to get a call in sideways before some yappy neighbour hogged the line again....!

I too am from the era of party lines, however I like eavesdropping.

People obviously miss the party line...that's why we have discussion forums and chat rooms.

We were never connected to one, but one of my Aunts was.
She lived way out in the sticks, last house on a long dirt road, and all the homes on that road were "partied"
I think it was about 5 families. We'd stay there for a few weeks during summer vacation each year. And i do remember trying to call home a few times, having to wait in line, so to speak.

I also remember the beep-line, trying to get a word in between beeps. That was an interesting quirk of the old systems too.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
People obviously miss the party line...that's why we have discussion forums and chat rooms.

Yes, that's is it, exactly.

For me, it was the 80s and the party line was where you paid to talk to a group of strangers on the phone.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
For me, it was the 80s and the party line was where you paid to talk to a group of strangers on the phone.

''

How did that work out for you? The 80's were wild and drug crazed. Tell us all the details.

reply to post by InTheLight


Are you insulting me?

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by InTheLight

 

Are you insulting me?

No, I am not. As I stated earlier, I am an eavesdropper and I'm interested in human interaction.

Wow,

I remember the party line as a really young child. I also remember the "paid" party line as an older teen.

Guess they got rid of it so we could pay for it

My mom used to tell me about that when I whined about not having my own line and my own cell phone.

We were one of the last people in the neighborhood to get a phone. I remember as a child using my uncle's phone (they lived next door) and he had a party line. Three teenage sisters down the road and he was constantly cussing and complaining about them always being on the phone.

I had a party line until 1993. I lived in a rural area and shared the line with 4 others.
all our phone numbers were one digit apart. I was out of town for two weeks and got a $700. phone bill from accessing a phone sex line. Good thing I had receipts proving I was out of town or I would have had to pay that.