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In honor of the geezer thread: Who had a party line?

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alwynsw Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-16-03 08:49 PM
Original message
In honor of the geezer thread: Who had a party line?
Edited on Tue Dec-16-03 08:54 PM by alwynsw
And how often did you listen in? How many parties?

We had 8 on ours. I generally went for Shirley's girdle gripes and the teenage lovers heavy breathing. It was better than TV - we mostly had farm shows and homemaker shows until the afternoon soaps. Andy and Barney ruled at night on Thursday, I think.

edited to add on Thursday, I think
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-16-03 08:53 PM
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1. 8 on ours as well.
We lived on the grounds of the state facility for the developmentally disabled. Most of the conversations were just bored housewife gossip. A friend and I would occasionally drop vague references about "she's KEEPING the baby" or "he's having an affair with her?!"

It didn't work--we were only thirteen and I guess it showed.
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alwynsw Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-16-03 09:09 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I guess we're it, blonde
...all those poor deprived people that never got to eavesdrop...so sad
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Kat45 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-16-03 09:38 PM
Response to Original message
3. We had one when I was little.
But I don't remember how many parties were on ours, and I never got to listen in anyway.
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Spirochete Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-16-03 11:12 PM
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4. Don't remember how many
think it was maybe 3 or 4. My parents said they'd clobber us if they caught us listening in on the line, and not to answer it unless it was two short rings. I remember I used to dial our own number, then hang up real fast and leave the room, and it would ring and one of my folks would come in and answer it.
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morningglory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-17-03 12:23 AM
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5. Funny party line true story.
We had 9 people in our family, so no one would stay on the party line with us. So we only had a party line briefly. But this incident really happened in our neighborhood. There was a Mrs. Waters who was n invalid, sat in her chair all day. One day Mrs Capps received a phone call and said "Be careful what you say. Old Lady Waters has nothing to do but listen in on the phone all day." A wizened voice interrupted with "That's a BLACK LIE!!"
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areschild Donating Member (952 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-17-03 07:09 AM
Response to Original message
6. Don't know how many were on the line,
but, yeah, we used to listen in. Our phone number was 2-8330.

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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-17-03 07:37 AM
Response to Original message
7. Yes, had one, but don't know how many were on.
But I do know it was a pain, because one of the other parties would break in on my conversation to tell me they had to use the line.
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Another Bill C. Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-17-03 08:07 AM
Response to Original message
8. Two shorts and a long
was our ring. Sometimes we'd ring up our own phone just to watch the nosy neighbors across the road get up and head for the phone.
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