# Count To A Million Thread! **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [September 2, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653 "2018-09-02T18:47:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 256
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5105 "2021-08-31T05:16:43Z")
4661 ‘Cause I can’ t read the number that you just gave me ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5106 "2021-08-31T12:53:47Z")
4662 There’s something in my eyes ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5107 "2021-08-31T13:04:39Z")
4663 You know it happens every time ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5108 "2021-08-31T13:33:52Z")
4664 I think about the love that I thought would save me ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5109 "2021-08-31T13:55:07Z")
4665 But isn’t that the way they say it goes ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5110 "2021-08-31T14:18:19Z")
4666 Well let’s forget all that ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5111 "2021-08-31T16:01:09Z")
4667 And give me the number if you can find it ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5112 "2021-08-31T22:02:32Z")
4668 So I can call just to tell 'em I’m fine, and to show ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5113 "2021-08-31T22:18:23Z")
4669 I’ve overcome the blow ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5114 "2021-08-31T22:23:15Z")
4670 I’ve learned to take it well ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5115 "2021-08-31T23:26:22Z")
4671 I only wish my words ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5116 "2021-09-01T03:21:21Z")
4672 Could just convince myself ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5117 "2021-09-01T08:13:53Z")
4673 That it just wasn’t real (Somehow this songs seems very similar to [Martha](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Mse62NFl4), by Tom Waits to me. There is also a Chuck Berry song with a similar subject and a twist at the end, I just can’t think of the title right now). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5118 "2021-09-01T08:21:55Z")
4674 But that’s not the way it feels [I don’t know of the Tom Waits song, or the Chuck Berry song, but it’s a common enough theme–the guy at a payphone trying to call his girlfriend. Hell, that was me in 1985, in a truck stop near Kingston, Ontario, on a late-night call, digging for change at a payphone that would let me extend that call to my girlfriend in Toronto. I didn’t succeed, and the operator cut us off.] ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5119 "2021-09-01T08:41:32Z")
4675 No, no, no, no That’s not the way it feels [_[Memphis, Tennessee](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ezeUM6c74)_ is the title of the song by Chuck Berry I was looking for. Maybe the telephone systems are different in the USA and Europe, but this operator/girlfriend trope strikes me as very American. Not objecting, but I can’t think of a European song about the same subject.] ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5120 "2021-09-01T08:53:06Z")
4676 Operator, well, let’s forget about this call. [American _and_ Canadian. They are alike in so many ways, including this song. Like I indicated, I begged the operator to find just three more minutes if I could produce a nickel. I couldn’t, so she cut the call off.] ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5121 "2021-09-01T09:02:57Z")
4677 **Pardel-Lux** , you might enjoy this video of the troubles with telephony in North America, back in the day: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7LXpnNKNxJI/maxresdefault.jpg "Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show ~ "Sylvia's Mother"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LXpnNKNxJI) “And the operator says forty cents more for the next three minutes.” Yep, been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5122 "2021-09-01T09:04:32Z")
4678 There’s no one there I really wanted to talk to [I can’t remember when I last talked to an operator, I probably never have. I was born 1964.] ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5123 "2021-09-01T09:52:42Z")
4679 Coincidences are interesting, not because they point to a hidden meaning, but because they show what you pay attention to. By chance I just came across [this article](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-08-31/where-can-i-find-a-pay-phone-eric-kunsman-documents-america-s-last-phones?srnd=businessweek-v2&utm_source=DamnInteresting) on pay phones, I didn’t search for it. And I am not a Bloomberg subscriber or habitual reader. Curious. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653/5124 "2021-09-01T20:03:21Z")
4680 Thank you for your time [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653.md?page=255) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-to-a-million-thread/820653.md?page=257)