Hey y’all! I’ve been lurking here very occasionally (to be perfectly honest and frank, I don’t have much time for the Dope the way I used to years ago, there are similar message boards that I do still frequent, but SDMB’s problem is that there’s just too much awesomeness - it’s much bigger than the others, so no time for all of it), but I’ve had a question that I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on - I promise to at least stick around to read the first few pages of answers that come in, OK?
As far back as I can remember, where I live (Winnipeg, Manitoba), dialling seven digits the same will get you pizza: 222-2222, 444-4444, 777-7777, and 888-8888 are all pizza joints. (Can’t seem to get a clear answer as to who owns 333-3333, 666-6666 or 999-9999 in my 5 second Google search, but I know I haven’t seen them in pizza ads, I have personally seen all of the above, though, none are surprises to me.) Therefore, I noticed with bemusement ads on the FOX channel that we get from Rochester, New York, where I’ve seen ads for lawyers advertising their 444-4444 and 888-8888 numbers (and I’ve been watching that station long enough to recall them not having seven digits the same phone numbers before). So I’m guessing in Winnipeg, pizza is important to us, and in upstate New York (as I imagine elsewhere in the US), lawyers are more important than pizza.
This got me to wondering if there are industries in your area that have phone numbers seven digits the same. I don’t mean that, for example, just one local plumber has 555-5555, but if three different plumbers have 555-5555, 111-1111, and 000-0000, then we’re on to something!
In southern California there is a law firm that advertizes on the local Spanish
language T.V. stations that has the phone number 222-2222. In the audio
this is expressed as “dos veintidos veintidos veintidos” which translates
into “two twenty-two twenty-two twenty-two.”
Ought to be easy enough to check this area code. Not sure about others. Not curious enough to check all 7-digit-the-same numbers in this area. May later when I’m even more bored.
I vaguely recall a Three Stooges routine where somebody gives his number as 2222, and one of the Stooges, Curly I think, responds “Two-Two-Two-Two? What are you, a two-two twain?”
in southern CT (203) are code
222-2222 belongs to Cablevision in Westport
333-3333 is Metro Taxie in Bridgeport
444-4444 appears to belong to a private individual
555-5555 belongs to a Learning company (perhpas school tutors?)
666-6666 also seems to be private
777-7777 is Metro Taxi of New Haven
888-8888 is an air transport company
999-9999 is definitely private
or the 475 are code
222-2222 appears to be private
333-3333 appears to be unassigned
444-4444 appears to be unassigned
555-5555 belongs to U Little Devils a costume co.
666-6666 seems to be private
777-7777 appears to be unassigned
888-8888 seems to be private
999-9999 seems to be private
Some of those I say seem to be private might be unassigned.
Seems the prevailing view is taxis - at least the lawyers aren’t winning.
555-5555 for any area code gets you directory assistance (remember that 555 is a special prefix?), this is why I didn’t use it in my example above (along with 111 and 000)
Again, I’ve been watching that channel long enough to know the jingle used to be - to the exact same tune, "Cellino and Barnes. Injury attorneys. Call four five four twenty twenty. That’s why I really sat up and took notice when they replaced the jingle with 8s, the tune really flows well with the 454-2020 number, different words have different tones to them (the Chinese were on to something!), all eights just sound forced. (Curiously, looking at the C&B website, they still seem to have the 454-2020 number, they just don’t advertise it anymore. I guess Little Nemo was right, want to hype the simple number for the head injury crowd.)
I’m not sure if it still applies, but I remember when 415-777-7777 was the number for the classified ads department at the San Francisco Chronicle.
And I don’t think any area code has made 555 a “standard” prefix, mainly because of 555-1212 (directory assistance) and the “rule” about 555-0100 through 555-0199 still being reserved for fictional use. I remember, back in 1977, the first episode of Fernwood 2-Night use the phone number 555-5624 for a call-in segment, unaware that one area code had assigned that number to some medical help line. I also think that the “private 555 numbers” were being used by WWE a few years ago to mask the real numbers of people being called (Vince McMahon called up some viewers on a live wrestling broadcast, but you could tell from the touchtone tones that the same digit used 3 times were being used as the prefix for the first few numbers).
I also read somewhere, but never saw any actual evidence, that at least one area code uses 222-2222 as its ANAC number, where an automated voice will respond with the number you are calling from. (This is useful when a new phone line is being set up.)
Yeah, we’re 10-digit here, too. Still, I know of at least one cab company in town that’s 704-444-4444. My wife’s big on Japanese culture, so we refer to them as Death Cab for Cutie.
Around here 777-7777 is the same taxicab company in all 3 local area codes. I haven’t seen any other all-7-digits-same advertising for cabbies or otherwise.
