Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!emory!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintaka!telecom-request From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: The Correct Way to Write Your Phone Number Message-ID: Date: 11 Mar 91 22:28:31 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 32 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 198, Message 9 of 9 > > Interestingly enough, this convention is REVERSED in the United Kingdom: > > 071-402 7633 ... > > The thought there, perhaps, is that the hyphen acts as a separator. > In my native country of Sweden, phone numbers are written as: > 08-736 91 27 ... > The hyphen works as a separator, spaces do not, ... I always had trouble following that logic. I mean, according to that algorithm, people with hyphenated last names are doing it all wrong. For example, "Lobelia Sackville-Baggins" would become "Lobelia-Sackville Baggins". This is very nonintuitive, because the "Sackville" is more closely associated with the "Baggins" than it is with the "Lobelia", is it not? Likewise with phone numbers: the exchange and local number are more closely associated with each other than with the area code or country code. I find the connecting hyphen to be a much more convincing "binding" character than the space, because the "-" actually appears as a physical link between the two groups of digits (or letters), while the space appears as a gap, and thus is a natural separator. But then, national tastes vary, and what looks obvious and natural in one place may look exactly the opposite in another! Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA