Brittle Fingers

Question: At the beginning, Stretch asks the two punks in the car to hang up so that the call can end and the phone line can be clear. Why? Why can't she just hang up and end the call? This makes no sense.

Brittle Fingers

Chosen answer: That's how telephones worked back then. It has to do with the lack of a disconnect signal being sent by the called party, which phone companies have now. Back then when someone called another person, they were paying for the call and thus it was felt that they're entitled not to be hung up on and the line would not be "free" for the person being called, even after they hung up. This also meant if someone was called and they picked up in one room, they could say "hold on I'm going to switch phones", hang up, go to another room and pick up the phone and the caller would still be there. It was also a great way to scam or annoy people by calling them and not hanging up. Some countries still maintain this method of operation, largely because some people have become used to it, although nowadays it's by choice, not by technical limitation, and the length of time the line is held open is significantly reduced.

Bishop73

Yeah that's actually true. in the 80s we used to call up talk radio shows from isolated, seldom-used phone booths and then leave the phone off the hook. No more calls for hours until they straightened it out with the phone company. we called it 'jock blocking'.

That's not true my brother would prank call KDKA in Pittsburgh constantly they had no trouble hanging up. If people called our house there was no trouble hanging up.

That's exactly how it worked if the line didn't have a disconnect signal.

Bishop73

31st Jul 2011

Seinfeld (1990)

10th Mar 2011

Seinfeld (1990)

The Andrea Doria - S8-E10

Other mistake: The tenant board member tells George that Mr. Eldrige in apartment 8C has decided he wants the new apartment. However, the new apartment in question has a 3-digit number - 808 I believe. This indicates that the building would not have single digit numbers and letters (Such as 5E, 8C, etc.) as part of its numbering system.

Brittle Fingers

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