Long, long, ago… sometime in the last century. Just think of it. Phones… mostly every home had one, usually in the kitchen, attached to the wall, usually black… and if you were lucky, it had a 20 foot coiled cord that would stretch all around the kitchen so women could still do all their womanly duties in the kitchen while talking on the phone to other women, in their kitchen, doing their womanly duties. Wow, how things have changed. Then came the old black desk model, it didn’t have to hang on the wall…
it sat on the desk (duh) on on the end table in the living room… if you were among the near rich and could afford two phones… besides, that’s silly… who really needed two phones… please! And pay phones… they were almost everywhere… pay, yes, pay… you always carried some dimes in your pocket… dropped them into the phone, yes, into the phone… you got a dial tone ( ya just had to hear it to understand it ) … and dialed your number. Example Mulberry 6 – 4321. ( bizarre ) … if you prefer MU6-4321. Yep, that’s why the original phones had letters assigned to certain numbers… just so they could use cutesy prefixes like “Mulberry” or “Murdock” ( which if you didn’t notice… one of those two is totally redundant ) … and you could dial the number with the cutesy prefix name. Ya only used the first two letters of the cutesy name for the first two numbers of the number you were dialing ( now you see why one’s redundant). Yes… dialing… a round disc, dial if you will, with 10 finger 
holes for selecting the right number and spinning the dial to the stop point to dial the number. Well, simple then, complicated to explain now. The word “dialing” came 
from using the disc with holes, or “dial” …everything has basic word origins… “call me” actually started before phones… as in shouting across the field or street, calling to someone… like for dinner… although I personally preferred the old iron triangle… but that’s another story. Now the box phones on the wall that had the attached “receiver end” ( the part you talked into, the part that “received” your voice and conveyed it ) , and the corded earpiece which was about the size and basic shape of a 12 of cup that you put to your ear to listen… well, that was a bit before my time. Still confused on the “Mulberry 6 – 4321” … MU6-4321… just look at your phone… “MU” is “68”… and the number was 686-4321… later complicated with area codes and further complicated even more with multiple area codes within the same neighborhood and even in the same house. So why do they call them area codes… well, at one time the area code actually indicated a certain specific geographic area for which that area code was assigned… which is now completely lost in a mass of confusion…. but that too is another story. So where were we? oh, yes, phones. 
Just think back to then… what were phones good for? Talking to family and friends… oh, and the newest convenience, ordering a pizza via the phone so it would be ready when you got there to pick it up. Yes, when you got there to pick it up… no pizza delivery back then… you had to pick it up your self. But then again, that’s when pizza was really good… delivery just changed all that forever… yuck! Anyway phones… just think of them today. They do so many things that you wonder if anyone still uses them to just talk. Personal data storage, GPS & directions, cameras, games, music, calendars, texting ( ah, now a practical use for all those letters with the numbers ), and the internet with a gazillion apps that put the world, and all that’s it knows at your fingertips. How did the human race survive when phones were just a tool to talk… via that black box, hanging on the wall in the kitchen, with the long cord, so women could do all their womanly stuff while talking to another woman in their kitchen doing their womanly stuff. ( ladies… don’t take this serious… I was just kidding… but I believe this was for real back then ). 
And I didn’t say anything about being barefoot in the kitchen… which was more realistically true verses modern women of the time (1940’s 50’s & 60’s) that wore fancy dresses, ruffled aprons, and got dressed up, hair made, makeup on, and wore high heels while preparing the family meals, and then serving them. Right, did anyone really do that? … like on Tv and in commercials, and printed ads? … not in my house! Oh, less we forget the modern phone of the 60’s… the oval shaped “Princess” phone, when came in pastel Easter colors, of which “pink” was preferred 82% of the time. The later Princess phone incorporated the first touch tone keys that replaced the dial, which we still use today ( not the phone… the touch tone key pad), at least for a while longer until the whole voice recognition thing is perfected. And lets not forget when the 60’s phone became ultra modern and space age, hence the model that looked like a gaming joystick… for those that remember, the dial, and later push buttons where on the bottom, in the base of the phone, hidden out of sight. Now there’s another word with questionable origins… joystick. Well, maybe it best not to got there, cause that’s certainly another story. Oh, back to phones… a wonderful marvel of today’s technology that sometimes makes it hard to even figure of how to just answer the phone when someone actually calls you on it to… of all things… just talk to you… as in person to person… real voices… talking to one another. Then there’s the flip side… now how do I “dial” or “call” someone that I needed to talk to? Perplexing indeed. Notice I used the phrase “needed to talk to”. I almost never “want to talk” on the phone… it’s a only when I need to thing. Why? … cause I’m a guy. Woman want to talk, that’s why Bluetooth was invented, so women could do anything, anywhere, and still talk to each other…. all the time ( please note that I didn’t mention any womanly kitchen duties). Kinda like women being telepathically connected, but currently via a phone ( better things are being developed for the future as I speak). Well, this is what I’m told… so don’t kill the messenger. On the other hand… men… use phones only when you can’t avoid it and you really need to… keeping it as short as possible. Don’t get me wrong… I have one of the marvels of modern technology… 95% of my use is NOT related to actual talking. I’m just not sure why they still refer to them as “phones”… when this is the absolute least used of their capabilities. Oh, and lets not forget the term “ring”… it was derived from the sound the phone made when someone was calling you… actual bells inside the phone would ring… hence the term. Today they do everything else but ring. So if phones were a new invention today, what would the new terms be… since “dial”, “call” , and “ring” are really outdated notions. perhaps “push” as in buttons… “connect” as in calling… and “notifying” rather than ringing… But what do I know. So whatever… “push” or punch” (not dial) in my number so you can “connect” (not call) with me, and once my phone “notifies” me (not rings)… I’ll “acknowledge” (not pick up, cause I didn’t put it down or drop it) and we can talk. But wait, I seldom carry my phone, so you’ll have to leave a message… kinda like the bottle thing but faster… and I’ll get your message when I think to eventually look at my phone ( when it’s beeping at me… saying the battery is going dead)… and I’ll call you, or ring you, or whatever, as soon as my phone recharges… if I remember. But not to worry, my phone will beep to tell me to take it off of charging, and I’ll probably remember to call you. What do I care… “it’s a phone” … and I’m a guy. So keep in touch… text, email, instant messaging, facebook, or Skype… wow… we have come a long way from smoke signals, the pony express, and telegraphs. For the younger generation… just Google it… it will explain it all. If you already fully understand… well… then you are old like me. And if you’re battery goes dead… just drop me a note in a bottle ( youngins, you can Google that too! ) … later. BTW… to quote Jimmy…. “if the phone doesn’t ring… it’s me”. (how true). I will be thinking of you, remembering good times together, both new friends and old… and you’ll know it was me… not calling… when your phone doesn’t ring…or sing… or something. I still miss the new older cells phones… ya know… the one’s that had a ring tone at was a “ring”… that way you know it’s your phone ringing and someone is calling you… rather then hearing music playing and thinking that sounds nice… and wondering where the music is coming from… and missing the call. So now you see, even if I carried my phone with me… what’s the point… I’d just think it’s music somewhere and miss the call. Or if I realized that a “call was coming in” (another bizarre term), I probably couldn’t answer it in time or wouldn’t remember which button to push to answer it anyway. Now you know… know what? Know why you always have to leave a message if you call me… see!
Next topic… who knows. Maybe about words or phrases that we’ve used well beyond the actual meaning of the words origin and initial usage ( like call and ring ) … or the abbreviated phrase that we all understand the meaning… but realistically, in modern terms, just reading it, don’t make sense. Like: “I gotta take a pee”. You’re not really going to “take” anything… aren’t you really “giving” something ( as in getting rid of )… ah… but the origin of the phrase was shortened from… “I gotta take some time away from what I’m doing to go pee” … but that’s to long to say, especially when you really need to go… now! So it got shortened! But that’s another story.
Yall have a good day… and don’t think too hard on all of this. I believe it’s referred to as “falderal”. Wow… spell checker liked that word, but my desktop Webster not so much. When I tried verify and check it out… Webster don’t care, not in there. 70,000 up to date words and definitions… but no “falderal”. Feels good to “get” Webster. Wonder where falderal originated. BTW, did you realize that Webster’s desktop dictionary of 70,000 words is only part of the 165,000 accepted words in the English language. That alone should make you wonder.
Falderal:
1. mere nonsense; foolish talk or ideas.
2. a trifle; gimcrack; gew-gaw.
3. Origin: 1695–1705; originally. as a nonsense refrain in songs; of obscure origin
CORRECT!
