On Friday the New York Times did a story about a man who lost his cell phone and couldn't call his girlfriend because he didn't know her number. They broke up two weeks later - but who memorizes numbers anymore??
I know just a handful of telephone numbers by heart these days: my old roommate's cell number (it's been the same forever), my best friend's home number (which he doesn't use anymore), and for some reason I remember a childhood friend's parents number that I haven't dialed in years. But that's about it.
Call me!
Oh ... I also know Mama Bunny's number - even though she hasn't always had it - because it's so easy to remember. You see, when Mom and Stepdaddy got married and moved to their new house, Mom wanted an easy-to-remember telephone number. So she called the phone company and told them she had a "mentally challenged" child who needed an easy phone number. The phone company bought her story and obliged. FYI: my brother and I are many things, but 'mentally-challenged' ain't one of them.
How many non-work-related telephone numbers do YOU still have in that brain of yours?...
10 comments:
Sometimes it takes me a while to come up with my own home number.
I remember my childhood phone number, my grandmother's number (both changed when we moved in 1984), the numbers of all my favorite cousins (back when they were still favorites), and the numbers for my best friend from HS and my best friend in the early 90s. But I have to think real hard when asked for my current home number.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
I remember my parents' phone number which hasn't changed in about 30 years, uh...let's see...sometimes I can pull my significant other's cell phone number out of thin air, but not always. You said no work numbers, so that pretty much covers it, lol.
Back before cell phones (yes, I'm that old) I was really good with phone numbers. If you told me once, I almost always remembered it. It was a useful talent for a young ho. :)
The Engineer, after 20 years, still can not always remember our home phone number. Has it programed and when people ask for our number he gets this panicked look on his face and asks me.
I know all the kids' numbers :-)
It's not about remembering, it's about learning. In the past, you had to write down the number, look at it and dial it plus if it was important enough, you had the desire to commit it memory. Now, chances are you never even see the number - people call you and you save it.
This will surprise you, but I'm not good at remembering numbers and never have been. This posed a bit of a problem when I taught US History, but I remembered some dates and had notes for others. There are a few phone numbers I remember but not many. Thank goodness for saving numbers!
Joy -
I am SHOCKED! :)
XOXOXOXO
True, very true. I don't know my husband's phone #. Really.
I've incredibly poor number memory and am forever losing the papers I jot numbers on. My current cell number has several repeating digits because Art knows I can't remember. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I can't even remember our anniversary. I have to ask him, every single year. (Don't ask me how many years we've been married. Long enough that I should damn well know!)
It's strange to think how numbers get caught in our heads. I remember more than I care to, and some pretty useless ones. But really, we all knew that some day, the toll free number for Unsolved Mysteries would come in handy!
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