It was a holdover from when you had to make a verbal request to the telephone operator to connect a call, rather than use a dial. Kind of odd that nobody could explain it.
Did you read the Wikipedia entry you linked? The explanation is incredibly convoluted. No wonder nobody can explain it. I just read it, and I couldn’t explain it to someone. It seems like the reasons were logical when it started, but when I had that number in the 60s, making a call was essentially the same as today (except no push buttons), and there was no reason to keep up with those two letters at the beginning. It was just a holdover from the olden days, like Daylight Savings time. We tend to be reluctant to give up old traditions, no matter how pointless they are.
I found it easy to understand. The last manual exchange in the US was replaced by automatic switching in the 1970’s, so the reason for the letters is still within living memory for some people. I thought that people who’d used the old system would be able to explain the reason for the letters easily.
It was a holdover from when you had to make a verbal request to the telephone operator to connect a call, rather than use a dial. Kind of odd that nobody could explain it.
Wikipedia Link
Did you read the Wikipedia entry you linked? The explanation is incredibly convoluted. No wonder nobody can explain it. I just read it, and I couldn’t explain it to someone. It seems like the reasons were logical when it started, but when I had that number in the 60s, making a call was essentially the same as today (except no push buttons), and there was no reason to keep up with those two letters at the beginning. It was just a holdover from the olden days, like Daylight Savings time. We tend to be reluctant to give up old traditions, no matter how pointless they are.
I found it easy to understand. The last manual exchange in the US was replaced by automatic switching in the 1970’s, so the reason for the letters is still within living memory for some people. I thought that people who’d used the old system would be able to explain the reason for the letters easily.
Valid.