The Following was Originally Posted on our old Bulletin Board:
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Mike Leco
USATourist Administrator
Joined: 14 Jun 2004
Posts: 101
Location: Pittsburgh Pennsylvania USA
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 Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 7:00 am Post subject: US Telephone numbers |
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I received an e-mail asking about the letters and words used for telephone numbers in the USA. I never realized that this is not used in other countries, so visitors get confused when they hear it.
In the USA, we typically have 7-digit telephone numbers. We also have 3-digit area codes that prefix the number. When you are dialing a number outside of your local area code, you must also dial a 1. Therefore the average telephone number is 11 digits long. Only 10 digits if you are calling someone in the same local area code. A few places will even accept only 7 digits if it is in the local area code region.
Some clever advertisers have realized that it may be difficult for people to remember such long numbers, so they convert them to letters that spell out an easy-to-remember words. Suppose a local pizza delivery restaurant is advertising on television. Instead of telling you to "call 1 800 697 4992", they say "call 1-800 MY PIZZA". If you check the dial on any telephone, you can see that the letters beside the numbers 6974992 can spell MY PIZZA. So this is just another way of saying call 1 800 697 4992.
I guess it does make it easier to remember, but I do not like it when I must look at the telephone to interpret the letters into numbers. I can dial numbers much faster. | |