# "Drop a dime" on someone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2006, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925 "2006-08-16T11:06:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/21 "2006-08-16T13:53:15Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] And the phones has dials. Rotary dials to enter the number, not buttons. [/QUOTE] And sometimes those booths with seats had fans. You know, so you could _smoke!_ (Anybody on this porch seen the ashtray?) ---
**Author:** ![jimbeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/858c86/32.png) [@jimbeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbeam)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/22 "2006-08-16T14:04:41Z")
Allright everbody…scoot over, make room. My old man’s antique store built in 1892 was the old telephone office once upon a time. It’s still got an old crank phone on the wall and what’s left of a switchboard. He sold the old payphone awhile back it was wooden w/ a seat and lights in the top. Little “desk/shelf” beneath the phone, etc really cool. We actually still had “party lines” here until just recently. Anyone remember party lines. You pick up the phone and there’d be someone talking already. We finally went digital a few years ago. Yeah, I live in the sticks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/23 "2006-08-16T14:21:56Z")
[QUOTE=jimbeam] We actually still had “party lines” here until just recently. Anyone remember party lines. You pick up the phone and there’d be someone talking already. We finally went digital a few years ago. Yeah, I live in the sticks. 😃 [/QUOTE] My family had a party line until 1972. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/24 "2006-08-16T14:22:08Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] Where was that? I remember carrying quarters for pay phones when I was a salesman in the DC area in 84 and 85. [/QUOTE] I believe that in Vermont, the state regulatory agency preserved the 10-cent pay phone call well into the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/25 "2006-08-16T14:24:19Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] And the phone book was generally “intact.” Even if it was chained to the booth. Aaaah…I never realized how much I’d miss a phone booth! [/QUOTE] No kidding. I used to drop dimes to make calls, and used to sit in the relative safety of the phone booths in the [Reading Terminal](http://www.nrhs.com/natdir/spring01/rt-shed2.jpg) in Philly, awaiting a late train back home. ( God. I’m old. I remember the Terminal but not the food market underneath it. Feh ! 🙂 ) In high school, to dime someone out meant that you were going to tell on them, usually regarding drugs or other illegal activities. You didn’t dime your older brother out for coming home late for curfew. You dimed him out for coming home reeking of blonde Turkish hashish, late for curfew. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/26 "2006-08-16T15:08:28Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] Where was that? I remember carrying quarters for pay phones when I was a salesman in the DC area in 84 and 85. [/QUOTE] New York area resisted the increase to .25 for quite a while. I remember being pissed off landing in Miami, and having to get quarters to call my brother (I had 2 dimes in my pocket). ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/27 "2006-08-16T15:10:53Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] And sometimes those booths with seats had fans. You know, so you could _smoke!_ (Anybody on this porch seen the ashtray?) [/QUOTE] I’ve got it…hang on…I’ll empty it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/28 "2006-08-16T15:18:25Z")
[QUOTE=jimbeam] Allright everbody..scoot over, make room. My old man’s antique store built in 1892 was the old telephone office once upon a time. It’s still got an old crank phone on the wall and what’s left of a switchboard. He sold the old payphone awhile back it was wooden w/ a seat and lights in the top. Little “desk/shelf” beneath the phone, etc really cool. We actually still had “party lines” here until just recently. Anyone remember party lines. You pick up the phone and there’d be someone talking already. We finally went digital a few years ago. Yeah, I live in the sticks. 😃 [/QUOTE] I used to run an old plug/cord switchboard. It was one of the last ones. There was a scary digital one, but only a few choice accounts ran through it. Too bad we couldn’t rollerskate between the boards! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/29 "2006-08-16T15:26:16Z")
How about [cell phone booths](http://www.salemiindustries.com/)? ---
**Author:** ![psychloan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4bbf92/32.png) [@psychloan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychloan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925/30 "2006-08-16T15:42:42Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] Where was that? I remember carrying quarters for pay phones when I was a salesman in the DC area in 84 and 85. [/QUOTE] Massachusetts. I moved to the West Coast in '88. I remember being surprised and annoyed that all the Pac-Bell phones cost a quarter to make a call. I also remember being lectured to in High School about drugs back in the 80s. They told us repeatedly that if you turn in your buddy, you’re not really “diming” on a friend. I guess that once the establishment starts using the “hip” language, it’s on its way out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-a-dime-on-someone/368925.md?page=1)