# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 106
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2103 "2023-04-04T15:41:07Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I also remember five-digit local dialing When I was young, we had four-digit dialing, which then got changed to five-digit (this would have been late 80s/very early 90s, rural South Dakota). The last time I used a land-line phone here in Wyoming, it was 7 digit dialing; I honestly couldn’t tell you if it is still seven digit or now ten! ---
**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:** [April 4, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2104 "2023-04-04T19:00:45Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > > > There was a pre NXX formula that I remember seeing in some old Bellcore manuals, but damn if I remember what it was. > > Maybe the middle digit of the area code being a 0 if it covered the entire state and 1 if it did not? (Arizona = 602, Los Angeles = 213) I can’t see how that would matter to the switches, though. Whether the middle digit was a 1 or 0 depended largely on how populous the area was. When area codes were introduced in the '50s (I think), phone switches were big, mechanical devices that worked by counting the “clicks” on a rotary dial. So areas like New York, Chicago, and LA had area codes like 212, 312, and 213, because they were more likely to receive more traffic. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@DesertDog](#): > > > > Also, if the switch could figure out the first three were an AC because the second digit was 0 or 1, what was the reason dialing 1 to get an out of the area code line being all the rage before ten-digit dialing became common? > > The leading 1 meant long distance, and not all out of area code calls were long distance. More specifically, North American and Caribbean Long Distance. Other countries have other codes, like the UK’s 011. (When I was turning up services, I would give the phone vendor Buckingham Palace’s switchboard number to test international dialing.) ---
**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:** [April 4, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2105 "2023-04-04T19:13:18Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > apparently there _are_ still a few holdouts. There are always a few holdouts. When wanting to make a reservation at Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley in 1985 I had to go through an operator instead of dialing direct. The listing in the Yellow Pages (remember those?) said _[7-digit number] Dial 00 and ask for operator 53_, so I did just that, tacking on a, “So here I am.” She said, “Hmmm. Hang on,” and the line went dead, so it did not look like a commonplace request. She came back with the other operator and the connection made with no fuss. I just checked online and there’s a 10-digit number with no extra instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2106 "2023-04-04T19:13:26Z")
Where I grew up in rural Ohio, any call into town used the typical seven-digit dialing. But just outside of town to the west, any number had to be called as 1+seven-digits. We were all in the same area code, but a different company managed the switches on each side the line. It was a long-distance call, despite being just a few miles away. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2107 "2023-04-04T23:10:35Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Whether the middle digit was a 1 or 0 depended largely on how populous the area was. When area codes were introduced in the '50s (I think), phone switches were big, mechanical devices that worked by counting the “clicks” on a rotary dial. So areas like New York, Chicago, and LA had area codes like 212, 312, and 213, because they were more likely to receive more traffic. That’s the reasoning, but I have to question it. Weren’t area codes all designed to be (roughly) equally populous? Sure, New York City has a higher population than any comparable area, but most area codes aren’t a comparable area: The less-dense area codes were larger in area to compensate. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2108 "2023-04-05T00:01:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Weren’t area codes all designed to be (roughly) equally populous? No, most of the boundaries were on state and provincial lines. A low population state like Wyoming has a single area code, the same as the entire city of New York. By my count, only 16 states/provinces originally got more than one area code. > **[LincMad’s 1947 Area Code Map](https://www.lincmad.com/map1947.html)** > > Map of the original North American > telephone area codes from 1947. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2109 "2023-04-05T00:29:15Z")
Huh, I guess I was spoiled, living in a four-area-code state. I knew that none was bigger than a state, and that some low-population states therefore had smaller area codes than they ought, but I didn’t realize that there were that many single-area-code states. This would also account for the apparent pattern that statewide area codes had a 0 as the middle digit, because those really would be the lower-population ones. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2110 "2023-04-05T00:43:38Z")
That would mean a LATA line ran just to your west. Local exchange carriers are not allowed to cross LATA lines. Carowinds, a theme park near Charlotte has one running through it, following the State Line (so it’s a bit more logical than your example), meaning you had to make sure you were on the right side before you used a pay phone to call your parents to pick you up. I think I just aged myself. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2111 "2023-04-05T00:52:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > This would also account for the apparent pattern that statewide area codes had a 0 as the middle digit, because those really would be the lower-population ones. If you read the text below that map, it says that initially all the entire-state codes had a zero in the middle and all the partial-state codes had a one. Even New Jersey had only one area code (201), albeit the shortest dialing time of any with zero in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2112 "2023-04-05T00:58:14Z")
I was about to say that I thought that was because they started in the east and grew larger as they went west, but then I realized I was thinking of zip codes. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2113 "2023-04-06T13:57:44Z")
> **[Easily Confused Acronyms](https://xkcd.com/2759/)** > > 'Lever' was originally an acronym for Load Emplification by the Vimulated Emission of Radiation. Looks legit. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2114 "2023-04-06T14:17:51Z")
Meh, it’s just the same joke four times. It doesn’t go anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2115 "2023-04-06T14:58:45Z")
And yet I can’t stop chortling… …partly because as I skimmed it the first time I thought “Yeah, I know all those…” ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2116 "2023-04-06T15:22:21Z")
Only three times, right? MASER doesn’t contain a joke, as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2117 "2023-04-06T15:31:40Z")
Plus the mouseover text. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2118 "2023-04-06T16:03:32Z")
The omplification of the joke did nothing to dimulate **Chronos** ’ funny bone. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2119 "2023-04-08T22:47:06Z")
> **[Paleontology Museum](https://xkcd.com/2760/)** > > Nowadays the only ones left that do anything are turtles. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2120 "2023-04-09T17:39:56Z")
I had to think about this one. Am I correct that the joke is that supposedly rocks used to just happen to form in the shape of animal bones? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2121 "2023-04-09T18:09:17Z")
Yeah - it’s “things that look like rocks used to be gigantic, terrifying moving creatures, but now we only get things that look like rocks that move slowly, and are of moderate size” ---
**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:** [April 10, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/2122 "2023-04-10T00:02:55Z")
At the natural history museum I plead, “I’m a rock guy. Yeah, fossils are rocks but they’re a special kind of rock.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=105) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=107)