# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 3) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 29, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157 "2026-01-29T18:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 160
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3181 "2026-09-23T17:25:17Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HWc3WY3fuZU/maxresdefault.jpg "The IT Crowd - Series 1 - Episode 2: New emergency number") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWc3WY3fuZU) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3182 "2026-09-23T17:27:52Z")
In 1985 I wanted to make a reservation at Stovepipe Wells, one of the two motels in Death Valley. I went to the library and looked the number up in one of the phone books there and it said, _Dial 00 and ask for operator 54_. I went home, followed the instructions, and eventually was talking with the front desk at the motel. I suspect it was one of the last places on the continent to get direct dial. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3183 "2026-09-23T17:35:16Z")
It’s not a matter of being too scared to test it. It’s a matter of why should I bug the poor operator by calling them up just to test it? They’re probably short handed, like almost everybody else these days. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3184 "2026-09-23T17:45:01Z")
My guess is the “operator” you would reach is an automated phone tree system. Maybe you could finally get to a live person? I suspect it would take quite a while and I don’t have the patience (or interest) to try. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3185 "2026-09-23T19:54:29Z")
Very rural areas covered by small independent telephone companies do still use human operators for things like directory assistance and customer service and in some cases emergency services in areas where there is no 911 infrastructure. In the vast majority of the country dialing 0 from a land line gets you an automated system. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3186 "2026-09-23T20:39:26Z")
I’d always The Boxer was a retelling of Hemmingway’s The Battler, with the narrator being Nick Adams. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3187 "2026-09-23T20:49:05Z")
The only part of “The Boxer” I’m familiar with is “Lye la lye, lye la lyelye lye la lye, lye la lye” (which I think I have quoted correctly). ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3188 "2026-09-23T20:53:40Z")
I’ve always understood the boxer to be a metaphor for the poor boy, instead of the poor boy literally becoming the boxer. So metaphorically the same person? That’s how I voted anyway. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3189 "2026-09-23T21:01:28Z")
> [@Thumper668](#): > > I’ve always understood the boxer to be a metaphor for the poor boy, instead of the poor boy literally becoming the boxer. So metaphorically the same person? Same here ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3190 "2026-09-23T21:02:56Z")
> [@Jegpeg](#): > > Is the term “operator” even limited to people who work for the telephone company? In the US, “the operator” was the phone company employee who answered the phone when you dialled 0. Big companies might have switchboard operators, but they weren’t “The Operator”. I used the operator for the first three poll answers, and I once had someone ask the operator to break in on one of my calls and ask me to hang up. I have no idea what “a TDD/HCO/VCO call” is/was. Sometime in the '80s 911 became the emergency number and 411 became directory assistance. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3191 "2026-09-23T23:20:43Z")
> [@Thumper668](#): > > I’ve always understood the boxer to be a metaphor for the poor boy, instead of the poor boy literally becoming the boxer. So metaphorically the same person? That’s how I voted anyway. For some reason, perhaps because we read it in high school, my mind always goes to the Jack London story “A Piece of Steak”, so the poor boy and the boxer are one and the same. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3192 "2026-09-24T01:47:15Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > I have no idea what “a TDD/HCO/VCO call” is/was. It’s a call where the operator relays messages to and/or from someone who is unable to hear and/or speak. It requires that person to have special equipment, such as a teletypewriter. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3193 "2026-09-24T13:56:23Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Directory enquiries were a different number for me as well, at least in the 1990s. (I believe the number was +1 306 555 1212.) Yes. I’d forgotten about 555-1212, which where I lived was replaced by 411. There was another number, which IIRC also had the 555 prefix, to find out what time it was. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3194 "2026-09-24T14:01:29Z")
But that was a recording, not an operator. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3195 "2026-09-24T14:31:16Z")
I agree with those who have said the boxer is not a real person, but an allegory for the kid, trying to establish himself in an unforgiving city, taking blows and wanting to give up, but not quite letting himself do so. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3196 "2026-09-24T15:15:37Z")
See, I thought it was a real boxer, and the image just really resonated with the kid. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3197 "2026-09-24T15:27:57Z")
That could be. It’s also debatable whether the last verse is still in the voice of the kid himself, or whether it switches to an omniscient narrator. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3198 "2026-09-24T16:32:19Z")
I think the missing final verse puts a lot of that to rest. It wasn’t included on the album version, but it was often included in live performances on tour in 1969, on SNL in 1975 and the reunion concert in Central Park in 1981. The last verse is this: Now the years are rolling by me— They are rockin’ evenly. I am older than I once was, And younger than I’ll be. That’s not unusual; No, it isn’t strange: After changes upon changes We are more or less the same; After changes we are more or less the same. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3199 "2026-09-24T17:37:08Z")
I only listen to the radio in my car. We don’t own one in our home. I listen to baseball games on AM, and satellite radio. Our Telsa doesn’t have an AM radio. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/3200 "2026-09-24T17:41:43Z")
I listen to traditional radio on a daily basis; I have a clock radio, and a radio in the bathroom, both set to WBBM (the Chicago newsradio station). WBBM simulcasts on AM and FM, and I generally listen to their FM feed, as it’s a higher-quality signal. But, when I’m driving home from seeing my family in Wisconsin, I’ll often listen to WBBM’s AM feed in my car (as it has a longer range than their FM signal), so I can get a feel for what’s going on with the traffic before I cross the state line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157.md?page=159) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157.md?page=161)