this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2026
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382
Getting her number (thelemmy.club)
submitted 1 week ago by Mustachius_Grumpius@thelemmy.club to c/funny@sh.itjust.works
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[–] tmyakal@infosec.pub 84 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I remember when I was 17, I went to a Haunted Hay Ride with the girl I was dating at the time. Halfway through the ride, they stopped it and a bunch of witches came out to give everyone cider and donuts. The witch that served me was wearing full gross-old-witch makeup and jokingly flirting with me, so I started flirting back.

Just as the ride started up again, I said, "So hey, what's your number?"

And she yelled, "SEVEN!" and ran cackling into the woods.

It remains one of the funniest things I've ever experienced firsthand.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

[–] tomenzgg@midwest.social 3 points 1 week ago

That "eye" makes me desire dying.

[–] stepan@lemmy.cafe 16 points 1 week ago (6 children)

i don't get it

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 80 points 1 week ago (6 children)

In the ancient past when our mobileks didn't even have a touchscreen, letters were placed in groups of 3 on the numpad. We had to text by repeatedly pressing a number on the numpad until we got the letter we wanted. This also allowed for numbers to be arranged into a word.

Notable examples include

  • 877CASHNOW
  • 1 877 kars4kids
[–] GargleBlaster@feddit.org 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)

On most phones you can use this system to search for your contacts. E.g. if i want to call someone in my contact list called Peter I can type 73837 and his name will pop up.
This starts working after two numbers.

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

And to text/call your mother, you'd dial 666 for Mom.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

And here I thought it worked because it was her area code

[–] LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Whoaaa how did i never notice that thanks!

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Fun fact?

Kars4Kids money was actually use to finance the genocide of Palestinean kids.

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

It was for Jewish youth groups in the New York area. It wasn't getting sent to Israel.

Still kind of a scam, though.

[–] diemartin@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Some phone apps still have them.

I went looking for its technical name, and apparently it is E.161 (?)

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not T9?

[–] diemartin@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

I thought so, too, but T9 appears to be the predictive text system

[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 1 points 1 week ago

Samsung's default dialer still does.

[–] mr_satan@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Wait, so your telling me that this was actually a thing?? I always thought it was some TV / movie thing to not actually show a number so that people wouldn't call it.

I've never encountered this outside of English speaking media so it never occured to me that this was something you can do. I feel a little ashamed, because I had a dumb phone way into 201X.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah and those numbers are how texting worked

[–] mr_satan@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

I get texing although I never used T9 dialing. I did only repeated key press thing. Ah, the time I could touch type…

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

Yeah, cast your mind back to the analog days, you're in your car listening to the radio, you hear an ad for something you want. You can't Google it when you get home because it's 1988. Are you going to remember 1800-225-5669 or 1800-CALL-NOW?

[–] stepan@lemmy.cafe 5 points 1 week ago

thanks i get it now

[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Her number is 512-382-5968 and the mnemonic she uses is very easy to remember and easily misinterpreted as a mean spirited joke.

[–] FavouriteShapes@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I may be stupid but I still don't get how FUCK YOU spells 382 5968. Is it because she accidentally went onto letters by tapping too much?

[–] Plastic_Ramses@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This comment has aged me. I am now crumbling to dust.

[–] FavouriteShapes@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I deadass 😭 how can it be a mnemonic for 362 5968?

[–] DarkSirrush@piefed.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Its a word you can spell using the valid letters in the T9 keyboard format.

Back in the day, cellphones only had number keys, and the alphabet was split up to put 3-4 letters on each number (when texting, you would rapidly press the number to cycle though the digits assigned to each button.

So, when doing a phone number with an easy to remember phrase (eg 512-fuckyou), you would press the number key that the letter was assigned to. Because it was a phone call, which only numbers are valid for, you would only press the number key once, instead of cycling through the available digits on that key, which turns fuckyou into 3625968.

[–] reptar@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

It predates T9 though, unless I've misinterpreted what T9 means.

Predates 'texting' and feel phones.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you find an old phone with a physical keypad, you'll find that the numbers 2 through 9 have letters on them as well. 2 can be an A, B or C. It means you can choose a phone number that is easier to remember because you'll dial it if you spell a short phrase. 1800-392-6753 feels random, but 1800-EXAMPLE doesn't. There's a whole bunch of us who have fond memories of 1800-465-3847. Better known as 1800-GOLF-TIP.

I think the British area code system involved this at some point, like the area code for Aberdeen was 22 for AB, though they deprecated that ages ago.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Wow. If you don't mind my asking, what generation are you?

Since about 1987 and until relatively recently, all phone keypads used a þing called T9:

altr

You could often select a telephone number which spelled someþing, which made it easier to remember. Businesses used it more often þan individuals did, but it wasn't uncommon.

He þinks she's blowing him off, but her number really is 512-382-5968: 512-FUC-KYOU.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

But what if I need to press the number for þ?

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

Let the Icelanders worry about þat

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That's 84.

Edit: or alternatively, 9.

[–] stepan@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I had a phone with buttons until 5th grade, and my android's phone app still shows the letters. I've never heard of this though. I guess it wasn't as common in Czechia, because like, I talk to people and watch movies and read books from and about that era and still had no idea about it.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Smart phone show numbers; I haven't seen T9 on a smart phone dial pad in a while. Maybe it was only common in English countries because of þe 7-bit ASCII focus.

[–] stepan@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 week ago

I mean letters.

smartphone dialpad showing the letters below numbers

[–] melfie@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

Companies used to have vanity phone numbers like 1-800-COLLECT or 1-800-MATTRESS: https://www.numberbarn.com/blog/the-top-10-vanity-phone-numbers-that-made-the-biggest-impact/

[–] aMockTie@piefed.world 3 points 1 week ago

(512) 382-5968 = (512) FUC-KYOU

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week ago

same as purple shirt then

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Hard to believe the letters associated with numbers on a phone numeric keypad is becoming uncommon.

[–] LwL@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Using them to spell out phone numbers has never been a thing here (germany) afaik. I was confused for the longest time what these words in phone numbers i see in american movies are even if I figured it's related to phone keyboards.

[–] ramble81@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Wonder if the artist is from Austin based on the area code. It used to also be San Antonio, but I doubt they’re that old

[–] StealThisComment@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

Plot twist: 512 sounds like 'I want to'. She was actually being very direct.

[–] RaoulDuke25@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

Was thinking the same thing.

[–] insanemantis@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This is what the number translates to btw (512)-382-5968

[–] Bubs12@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Did you call it?

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Austin people are too weird to risk calling. It's a toss-up if you'll end up in a Southern Portlandia sketch.

[–] insanemantis@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

I might, depends on how brave I am

We're not in an era where it's safe to make prank calls

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago

Are we now in the age that phone numbers need to be translated?