My mother trained my sister and me to answer the phone “Hello 076”, with the zero pronounced “oh”.
We always sounded like we had a a stutter as we tried – in our best BBC voices – to enunciate clearly the end of “hello” and the start of “oh-seven-six”
Since the only people who use our landline now are our in-laws (my mother in law was very narked at me the other day announcing “I called you more than once!” And wasn’t very impressed when I replied “there were no missed calls on my mobile, which I had with me as I wasn’t in the house.”), I am often surprised when the house phone rings.
I was trying to explain to my six year old daughter only the other day that it was within my lifetime that people have changed from calling buildings in the hope of speaking with someone, to calling that person directly, to dispensing with speaking and sending them short written messages. Just like personal telegrams….
Imagine my surprise the other day when, having the ignominy of having to visit a branch of Staples, I discovered that fax machines are still being made and sold..!