The Story of Communication:
Telephone—Fascinating Facts
- The building of skyscrapers awaited the invention of the
telephone.
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Henry David Thoreau was not impressed with the invention of
the telephone. The writer wondered if anyone would have anything
worth saying over it.
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The telegraph evened out the wide variation in the prices of
goods from city to city.
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Rumor had it that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fled to
South America because the telegraph made robbery too risky.
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A telegraph was operating in England before Samuel Morse invented
his.
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Private ownership of television in the U.S. can be traced step
by step back to the government’s refusal to buy Samuel
Morse’s telegraph.
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Early garbled telegraph messages included this one. . It was
sent as, “See the judge at once and get excused. I cannot
send a man in your place,” but it was delivered as, “See
the judge at once and get executed. I can send a man in your
place.”
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When reporters combined words to save on telegraph costs, the
telegraph companies started counting every three letters as
a word.
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Thanks to the telegraph, President James Polk learned of the
American victory at Vera Cruz, Mexico, from the publisher of
the Baltimore Sun.
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Western Union messengers who delivered a “Happy Birthday” message
were ordered to sing it.
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You know that a noun like “fax” enters our lexicon
when it also becomes a verb and an adjective.
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Alexander Bell’s telephone came to public notice when
the emperor of Brazil saw a demonstration and exclaimed, “My
God, it talks!”
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Alexander Bell tried to sell his telephone company to Western
Union, which turned him down. A few years later the phone company
bought Western Union.
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An early telephone ad had to explain to customers that the
wires were not hollow.
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Another telephone ad assured customers of privacy because its
subscribers were too well-bred to listen in.
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Early British telephone officials scolded a subscriber for
calling the fire brigade, noting that the fire was not on his
property.
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The first telephone operators were teenage boys. They were
so rowdy that managers got the idea of employing young ladies.
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The first telephone operator headsets weighed more than six
pounds.
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The dial telephone was invented by an undertaker who was convinced
that an operator was steering customers to a competitor.
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One early telephone booth locked callers inside until a coin
was deposited to unlock the door.
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Until 1959, customers could have any color telephone they wanted,
as long as they wanted black.
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Some telemarketing calls come from “boiler rooms” in
India.
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Researchers are working on automatic translation telephones.
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The phone request, “Keep in touch,” involves no
touching. So does the slogan, “Reach out and touch someone.”
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A 2004 survey asked adults what invention they hate most but
can't live without. Nearly one person in three said the cellphone.
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There have been experiments to put telephones in eyeglasses.
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Video teleconferencing grew out of an experiment nicknamed “The-Teacher-in-the-Sky” that
transmitted graduate courses to teachers in remote locations.
More Resources for Telephone
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