Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!caen!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!ucselx!bionet!hayes.fai.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: motcid!king@uunet.uu.net (Steven King) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Answering Phrase Message-ID: <11312@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 24 Aug 90 20:49:45 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL] Lines: 24 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 593, Message 6 of 14 In article <10918@accuvax.nwu.edu> Henry Troup writes: >On another track, when I lived in the U.K. we were taught to answer >the phone with the number. I presume this dates from a time when the >switching system was even less reliable than it is today. But in North >America one thing you never do is tell a caller what number s/he has >reached. How does the rest of the world answer the phone? I answer my home number with simply "Hello?" and my work number with "Motorola, this is Steve." My father answers his home number with "King's" and has his secretary answer his work number. (Ah, the life.) I was recently in Bangkok for a few weeks, and found the people there have the annoying habit of always answering the phone with "Hello" -- regardless of whether or not they spoke English! I don't speak a word of Thai, and I couldn't keep from expecting that if the phone was answered in English then the person on the other end should UNDERSTAND English. Linguistic prejudice, I know. Steve King, Motorola Cellular (...uunet!motcid!king)