h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I keep imagining a particular scene...

It would take place when Faith's about 3--old enough to know how to answer the phone, but young enough that we really wouldn't want her to.

For maximum chagrin, not only would I be unable to get to the phone before her, but the reason...

*ring ring*



'Hi! No, my mommy's going potty...'

'Faith, you know you're not supposed to answer the phone.... Who is it?'

'Dunno, but they talk funny...'

Of course, considering that to a little kid, anyone that doesn't share the accent they hear all the time at home 'talks funny' that wouldn't narrow it down all that much! Besides the folks on here, which encompass many of the different british accents, a New Yawk accent (granted, Shea's never called, but she has my number), Dutch, Danish, and Aussie accents, IRL we've friends from Alabama, Nigeria, the Ukraine, Iran (though her accent's not very thick anymore), Japan, Turkey, and one friend with (I think) cerebal palsy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't all those qualify as 'talking funny' to a 3-year-old?

says to Faith on the video phone:
intresting looney toons balloon

... and not so much later Faith'll be the one making the long distance calls ...

I've often wondered if the word "phony"
was coined when the telephone was in its
infancy. If something sounded tinny and
distorted like an early phone, then it
would sound...phony.