Somebody asks for your phone number? Memorize that one and give it to them. It’s the bell hooks hotline: calling it gets you feminist quotations from bell hooks.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I once asked for a woman’s phone # and when I called the next day it was the PCO Pest Control.
Too obviously fake :( Phone numbers here are eight digits long (ten including area code, eleven including country code).
e. e. cummings is one thing. bell hooks is another. Since her name is made up of actual words, I used to stumble across it every time it occurred in my grad school readings. Arrghh! I firmly believe that people are entitled to be cited or addressed as they prefer, but this is one affectation I never cared for.
Myself, I prefer 226868.
Astronomy students will recognise it as HDE 226868 a k a Scorpio X-1.
Other numbers worth remembering: 42
111 (the height of Apollo/Saturn V in meters)
S IV B (OK, so there are some roman numerals)
How about 867-5309? I don’t expect anyone under 40 will recognize it. Bonus points if your name is Jenny.
Per the comments it is apparently “immature” and “uncivil” to give a fake number instead of simply refusing.
@Artor,
Maybe anyone under 25, I’m 30, and I can tell you most people around my age very much recognize that number (and thanks for getting that song stuck in my head now)
@2 – Huh? If you want the full intentional number, in conical format would be 1-669-221-251 (or +001-669-221-6251 with exit code 00, which is most common, but depends on country)
Awesome. :-)
I have no idea what it is, and I’m almost 32.
It responds to texts, too. I got “Whenever domination is present, love is lacking.” -bell hooks
For a good time, for a good time call…
Yes. I do recognise that number. I may indeed be in the post 40 bracket.
How old was I when I was roller skating to 867.5309? Was I like 9? Older? I couldn’t have been more than 13, I’d stopped roller skating. When did that song come out anyway?
Sadly, it only took about a dozen comments (at the link) for the ‘what about the menz’ whiny entitled little shit to show up. Although the very first comment was almost as bad.
Out of curiosity, how many women here have been insulted or otherwise when they refuse to give out their number?
Err, that was actually me, clicked into my other gmail by mistake. Just fyi.
853-5937, Angela cannot make it to the phow-own
If you care to leave your name and number
She’ll give you a ring when she gets ho-ome…
/difford and tilbrook’d
re fake tel#
Phone #’s in movies are always fake. They are invariably 555-####. Used to be any number starting with 555 would get you to info (aka 555-1212. and previously as 411). Last time I tried one of those random movie phone #’s, I did not get info, but a recording of “unknown number”…
Refresh me mems: What was the number in that pop song that was a woman’s real #, that people started calling so much, after the song made it famous, that it was redirected to some error message, like, “This number no longer connected. [click]” {but it WAS an unintentional attribution. The song writer thought it really was a fictional phone#, to fit the meter of the song. or so he says ex post facto}
@17
That could have been the British band City Boy, “5705”
bell hooks once attempted to found a feminist publishing house, but the court rejected her articles of incorporation. She was undercapitalized.
re @18:
I finally got around to Google-ing the number you posted: 5705, which pointed me to the song I was thinking of:
867-5309 @ snopes.
Interesting legend about that song and number.
And some day we may fix society enough that it will be, instead of “self-preservation.” *sigh*
Why does it not go,
“This is my phone number. Give me a call if you’d like to get together.”
?
Sally Strange:
Refusing doesn’t always go well. It took one time, when I was in my teens, having a man yelling at me, absolutely furious that I didn’t want to give out my home phone. After that, I memorized four different numbers for standard give-out. I know it’s not a nice thing to do, but when some people are willing to unleash anger, insults, and threats over refusal, I don’t want them in a position to track me down.
An old joke I once heard:
—
SallyStrange (#6) –
“Women owe men their telephone numbers when asked.”
Brought to you by the same mentality as “Women owe men sex when asked.”
—
twas brillig (stevem) (#17) –
Today, 1-800-555-1212 is directory info, though in British Columbia it used to be for telephone repair.
I’ve been harassed for not giving out my phone number on at least two occasions, and verbally abused a few others.
I’ve also been assaulted for refusing to give out a friend’s phone number.
I’ve had a guy try to reach into my pocket to get my phone.
Not exactly phone, but I’ve been harassed for not giving out a friend’s OKCupid name to a guy after I mentioned to the group she’d been using it, even after I told him that he was most definitely not her type. “Tell me anyway.” “No.” “Come on, it’s not like I’m gonna put my penis in her butt or anything.”
Had to yell at him to make him back off, and that was in a situation where yelling wouldn’t get me in trouble.
(While we’re at it…)
Call 439-0116 when you’re down with Sublime you get…funky fresh lyrics
54-46 was my number, was my number now
Right now, somebody else has that number
Actually, only 555-01XY numbers are reserved for fakes in TV and movies.* The 555 is so distinctive that most people don’t notice that the next two digits are always 01 (at least in professional works – there are, of course, amateurs who just copy the 555).
*Except for 800 numbers, for which only 1-800-555-0199 is reserved, and for 844, 855, 866, 877, and 888 numbers, for which all 555 numbers are reserved.
And of course, all of this only applies to the US and Canada.