When you get the error message that ends "...if you need help, hang up, and then dial your operator," I heard "hang up, and burn down your operator."
I didn't think that the phone people actually wanted you to set an operator on fire, but I just figured that "to burn down" was a saying or idiom of some kind that I just hadn't learned yet.
A childhood belief about telephones
others believed things like this
- I used to think that in the song "Smooth Operator" they were saying "Schooooooool's not forever!"— Steph
- When I was a kid I was completely convinced that Sade's "Smooth operator" was "Ooh of the red eye".— Brookstar78
- I used to be terrified of fire-flys because I believed they would burn if they landed on me.— kevin
- I used to think the song "Hang on sloopy" was "hang on snoopy"— gina
- i used to think if i would eat spicy food i would burn and die— Bill
- i used to think tha if you went outside when it was acid raining the rain would burn holes in your skin— fear of rain