# Why do the letters on the telephone start on the "2" and not the "1"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-letters-on-the-telephone-start-on-the-2-and-not-the-1/54072>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 11, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-letters-on-the-telephone-start-on-the-2-and-not-the-1/54072 "2001-02-11T22:23:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Llardball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Llardball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llardball)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-letters-on-the-telephone-start-on-the-2-and-not-the-1/54072/1 "2001-02-11T22:23:38Z")

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Why does “ABC” begin on the number two on the phone instead of one?

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-letters-on-the-telephone-start-on-the-2-and-not-the-1/54072/2 "2001-02-11T22:28:15Z")

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[Why is there no Q on the telephone dial?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_378b.html)

The answer to your question appears in the 2nd paragraph.

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**Author:** ![RAWisSYDNEY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RAWisSYDNEY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWisSYDNEY)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2001, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-letters-on-the-telephone-start-on-the-2-and-not-the-1/54072/3 "2001-02-12T07:03:10Z")

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on an old phone i have here the letters Q & Z are on A  
but now they start from 2 and the keys go like this

ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PQRS TUV WXYZ  
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9