Number

Ok, I have finally found a place to get all my Seinfeld questions answered. Here is one: I cannot recall the name of the episode, I think it is the one where George is trying to extend his unemployment, and he tells gives the woman behind the desk Jerry's number , and says it is the number to Vandalay Industries, and they are considering him as their latex salesman. Anyways, my question is this: When giving the phone number, he says the first 3 digits are : KL5 . I realize that the K, and the L, are both 5, and just about all phone numbers on TV begin with 555, but does anybody know why he refers to Jerry's number this way?

On Fri, 07 Feb 2003 05:22:02 GMT, "Dave" wrote:

A bit of history: From the 1920s through the mid 1950s, the U. S. telephone system relied on local-exchange telephone numbers of between two and five digits. As these exchanges were interconnected locally, they came to be differentiated by an "exchange name" based on their location. These names, two-letter location designations, made use of the lettering on telephone keypads: thus an 86x- exchange, for example, might be "TOwnsend," "UNion," "UNiversity," or "VOlunteer." Phone numbers such as "Union 567" were the norm; "86567" ...

However, as exchanges became interconnected across the nation, AT&T/Bell found a number of problems - among them, that switchboard operators sometimes had difficulty with accents and peculiar local names. As a result, the national carriers began to recommend standardized exchange names, according to a curious combination of specific and generic criteria: they chose words that resisted regional inflection but were common enough to peg to "local" landmarks. The numbers 5, 7, and 9 were reserved because the keys have no vowels, making it (so the theory goes) more difficult to form words from them; hence artifacts like the fictional prefix 555-, so common in old movies, later became the national standard for prefix for fact, in the form of directory assistance. ...

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Interesting, but this does not really answer the question. Why would George Costanza state the telephone number that way in the '90s?

                            -Ray.

"The News Guy(Mike)" wrote in message news:[email]...

answered.

one

Vandalay

Anyways,

he

"The News Guy(Mike)" wrote in message news:[email]...

answered.

one

Vandalay

Anyways,

he

Yes, but he understood that. The question is, why would he use that format today? Nobody in their 30s would use that format.

I'm only 32 yrs old, but I remember when I was a small child, my grandfather used letters in his phone number, and my parents always referred to his number with letters also. I thought it was bizarre at the time, and haven't thought of it until I read this post. Bob

Its probably more beleivable that way because not ereryone would figure out it was 555 "Dave" wrote in message news:_nH0a.17057$be.10828@rwcrnsc53...

answered.

one

Vandalay

Anyways,

In article , "Dave" wrote:

The Boyfriend.

Television sitcom and, as Mike noted, phone company tradition. Beaver Cleaver's number was KLondike 5-4763. Shirley Feeney's (of Laverne and Shirley) was KLondike 5-9988.

Perhaps New Yorkers take their telephone prefixes (or former telephone exchanges) quite seriously, as also seen in The Maid regarding the Manhattan area code.

Or, maybe George was hoping Mrs. Sokol would either have more difficulty reaching him, or presume Vandelay Industries was an old established company, if he gave the number that way.

• Mark "do I gotta dial a one?" Mellin

When I first saw this episode I figured the writers were just doing something in a throwback styling. After all, this is the same show where the lead female, Elaine, wore clothes and had a hairstyle in the first few years of the show like a girl from the '50s (remember those shoes she used to wear?), and it's also the show where the audience used to clap whenever Kramer walked on set - which is similar to Norton making his first appearance on a "Honeymooners" episode.