In today’s (4/22/10) Final Jeopardy, I thought this was super easy and can’t believe all three blew it.
Category: Telecommunications Technology
Answer: In 1992, New York City received the first one of these, 917.
Question:
[spoiler]What is overlay area code?
There was an entire Seinfeld episode about it! It’s happened in nearly every slightly large-sized metro area! How did all three blow it?[/spoiler]
Yeah, anyone who watches *Seinfeld *should have gotten it.
I was surprised they all didn’t get one from a few nights ago:
That it was the Korean War that started in 1950
Knew it immediately but that’s sort of because I live here and they’ve been brought to our attention.
I would have known what it was, in terms of its function and the reasons for its implementation, but i wouldn’t have known to use the word “overlay” to describe it, so i guess i would have got the answer wrong.
I’ve seen the Seinfeld episode, but it was a long time ago.
I guessedcellphone area code which is vaguely correct but wouldn’t have been accepted.
What’s an overlay area code? Is that ten digit dialing? I’ve never heard the term. (And I could be on Jeopardy any damned day until a few months from now, so I guess I’d have blown that one.)
I live in New York City, and I would have guessed “dedicated cell phone area code”. Had no idea until just now that it was an overlay. 646 is an overlay for 212, but as far as I’m aware, 917 is only for cell phones.
That’s what I guessed, because that’s what mine starts with. Why wouldn’t it have been accepted?
The Seinfeld episode was about 646, BTW.
An overlay code requires all number dialing in the same area to use 10 digits to avoid confusion. You can no longer use the “last 7” digits as a shortcut, cause that could be for more than one area code.
It wouldn’t have been accepted because 1992 wasn’t the first use of an area code (that was in the 1950’s), just the first use of an overlay area code.
Yeah, but he said cellphone area code. Not just regular area code.
Because although the new code was largely driven by the rise in the number of cellphones, it’s not specifically meant for them. It also covered pagers and such. I’d guess the judges were looking specifically for “overlay” and it never would have occurred to me.
Ah, got it. Thank you, Bryan Ekers. That explanation, I can live with.
917 is not just for cellphones. My landlord’s house line is a 917 #. And my cell phone is a 646. NYC also got 347 added a couple years ago. Get one of those, and you’ll be REALLY unpopular here.
Don’t be too impressed. It was a wiki and google effort.
What is a dedicated area code for mobile phones?
Just curious, why?
I posted that before looking at the other posts. Overlay was actually my first guess. Should have gone with it.
I’ve never heard of an overlay before. I always just thought it was an area code for NYC cellphones.
I’m guessing that it’s because people who get the new area code are most likely young and new to the city, and certain long-time New Yorkers like to do look down on the “intruders.”