As the business card ordering person at my office, they go like this: 847-555-1212.
Are they a PeopleSoft geek by chance? That app seems to require the slash to designate an area code.
As for using dots on business cards to be trendy and the trick of the moment? Oh please! Techies and “artsy” types were doing that back in the mid-80s.
I never understood the way phone numbers worked in Germany (of course, I was 12, and didn’t really care to find out either!) Ours was 07825-9XXX, while a friend in the next building over was 07825-9XX. My parents work numbers were like that too; 07921-6XXX for mom and dad’s was 5 digits at the end, 07821-5XXXX. So strange!
Montreal has 10-digit dialing too, and while it’s obvious that most people don’t want you to bother saying the area code, the first 3 digits of my phone number are similar to it, and I’ve been corrected so many times that I now add the area code.
Person: “Your phone number?”
Me: “504-…”
Person: “You mean 514!”
Me: “No… area code 514, but the number is 504-XXXX!”
Add to that the fact that the XXXX part is made up 5’s 4’s and 1’s too… well, people look at me funny when I give it out. OTOH, it’s actually very easy to remember (unlike my cell phone number, which for some reason is impossible to learn!)
I took graphics arts training in the early 1990s and was taught to use xxx.xxx.xxxx, 'cause it was kewl.
The Web style guide for the multinational company I work for requires the use of the 345.555.1212 format for telephone numbers. I’m so used to using it for the Web that I often use the same format in other media, such as jotting down a number with a pen and paper.
We are also required to use an international date format in which today is 30 Nov 2007. I now use that format on checks.
That’s the UK date format.
Interestingly, the last batch of cheques I ordered had the date in DDMMYYYY format. The new ones have YYYYMMDD with the first two digits of the year filled in: 20YYMMDD. These are basic cheques from the Royal Bank; I did not request the format change.