when i was little (elementary school) my friend would always call the operator for fun. she would say random things or hang up or try to start a conversation with them. i asked how she knew how to call the operator and she told me it was a long series of secret numbers only she knew. i was really upset and got mad at her for not telling me. i just found out this isnt true and im 15

operator, operator

When I about 4 I didn't realize that pressing that little button on the phone would hang it up (on those older phones with cords). My mom was talking to my dad who was away with the Navy and I pressed that button. My mom just looked at my and said "You just hung you dad up." I immediately had this image of my dad in his Navy uniform with him hanging on a coat hanger at the shoulders. I was totally fascinated by how in the world I could have done that!

Bobbi Jo

I used to believe that telephone operators were surgeons who had to answer a few telephones that were stationed around the OR, while simultaneously performing surgery.

Anon

when i was about 11 or 12 years old, i tried to call a friend but accidentally dialled the wrong number. and instead got a very strange tone i've never heard before. i figured i've stumbled onto some kind of alternate dimension or secret military line, and would periodically call that number to see if the tones change... but it was always the same. it wasn't till much later that i learnt it was a fax line.

darryl

I used to think that everyone had a little person just like them that all lived in the telephone.

Jenni

wen i was rilly little i knew that u couldnt shove food through the phone, but i thought that because spegetti was shaped like the little holes in the phone i could send spegetti throught the phone to the person i was talking to. im not sure how i ever found out the truth because i dont remember ever trying it.....

anon

Once my sister [three years younger] picked up the phone and left it off the hook for a couple minutes. We weren't really allowed to use the phone at the time [I was about 5 or 6]. The lady that comes on when you leave it off the hook long enough started talking, and saying "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again." I didn't know it was a recording, and I got really upset and thought she was really mad at us, and that she was going to contact our parents and get us in big trouble.

Anon

I used to believe I could call God on the old telephone my mom put in my bedroom for me to play with. The number was 1-800-GOD. I'd call and leave messages for my dead Great-Grandma Clara. Come to think of it, it was more God's answering service than God himself.

Dina

I used to think that to call my nana, you just had to pick the phone up, and wait (my nana's special like that!). I used to have very long conversations with the recording saying 'please replace the handset, and try again'. I remember i got really upset one time, when the siren noise (to let you know that you've left the phone off the hook) at the other end started, i thought she was mad at me!

James

When my mom tried to telephone someone and she'd hang up because the line was busy, I thought she said "The lion was busy." And I thought there was a lion in a big cage somewhere and if he was eating a big steak for lunch or was otherwise busy, calls couldn't get put through till he was done.

Anon

When an attempt to make a telephone call was met with a busy signal -- when the "line was busy" -- I believed that the telephone operating Lion who was in charge of connecting the calls was otherwise engaged.

Joanna

When I was young, I used to think that if I picked up the phone while it was ringing then I would get electrocuted. I thought this because everyone that would answer the phone would wait until after the ring.

Rebecca

In my childhood, to make a phone call, you picked up the receiver and waited for a live operator to say, "Number, please?" She would make the call for you.

I believed that if the telephone operator could tell you when a line was busy, they should also be able to tell you when no one was home.

Melinda

When I was little, I had went to call my grandma on the phone in my mom's bedroom, but had forgot the number. I left the phone off the hook to go ask my mom for the number. When I came back, the recording was on the phone that says "If you would like to make a call, please hang up and dial again". I picked up the phone, hearing the voice, and thought someone was actually on the other end of the phone talking to me. I sat there for hours talking to the recording, finally my mom came into the room and asked if I was talking to grandma. Excitedly I looked at my mom and said "Nope! I've been talking to the dial lady, she's been saying the same thing for a long time... I think her memory isn't very good, but she is a good listener! She even plays music that sounds like beeping noises when she doesn't talk!"

Ooper

For years when I was a child, I believed that telephone cable was curly because curly cable was cheaper to make than straight cable. My dad told me that so it must be true, musn't it?

Andrea Storey

When I was young I used to think that our phone only worked for English speaking people. And that if you wanted to speak another language on the phone you'd have to buy that specific phone.

(ahem) still rather not say

When I was young I learned all about Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell and how they invented the telephone and talking machines. I knew they had lived close to my house and obviously spoke English. It was my impression then that these devices only could be used while speaking English. How lucky was I to be able to use these wonderful devices. It perplexed me to no end then, how a French speaking person was able to talk on the telephone and get it to work!

Anon

I used to think telephones ran off gas because when it thundered and the electricity went off the telephone still rang.

Libby

When I was little, (around three or four); I used to believe that anytime someone used the phone, the person on the other line was inside of it. I nearly gave my mother a nervous breakdown when I exclaimed "AHH!!! DADDY'S IN THE PHONE!!! GET HIM OUT!!!!"

Reject

I can remember misdialing a phone number as a small child and hearing a pre-recorded voice. The voice said, "If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator." I used to think it said "Bend down your operator." I couldn't figure out how making a telephone operator bend down was supposed to help you make a call...

Maeghan Jade