Legend has it that each of these would hold a book with everyone's name and home address, for anyone who wanted it. ( lemmy.world )

MrJameGumb , 3 months ago

There are still a few active payphones still around here! I haven't seen a phone book in over a decade at least though lol

poVoq , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago)

Phonebooks with home addresses? I don't remember that existed. Which country is that?

I mean, sure... names and area-codes made it relatively trivial to figure out the home address, but it wasn't printed in them.

Edit: ugh, I think I just misremembered. Getting old sucks.

Got_Bent , 3 months ago

Grew up in the seventies and eighties in the US. Phone books definitely had your home address. You had to pay extra to opt out.

poVoq , 3 months ago

Hmm maybe I misremember. Has been probably 30 years since I last touched a phonebook.

Fiivemacs , 3 months ago

They did in Canada. Here's a weird example from winterpig

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/ca6289da-795c-4216-922e-5f36760db090.jpeg

The_Picard_Maneuver OP Mod , 3 months ago

Oh yeah, it was normal in the US for a while.

In fact, it's used as a plot device in lots of old movies where detectives (or the Terminator) are trying to track someone down.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3c908792-f4d7-40e6-994b-d72c06a3a087.png

LinkOpensChest_wav , 3 months ago

The page I needed was always missing