Living in the 5-3-9
By now, everyone in the 918 knows that they’re about to get an overlay code.
Traditionally, overlay codes have been hated because they mean everyone has to dial ten digits, even to someone across the street. But who dials anymore? You call up the name on the cell and push a key.
And some places have more than one overlay, as Gothamist notes:
According to a press release, “929″ will join “718″ and the much-maligned “347″ in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. That’s because all the existing phone numbers will be tapped out by 2012, reports Neustar.
After Costa Tsiokos linked to this, I had to ask:
Was [347] really maligned? For that matter, does anyone malign 646?
His answer:
347 is generally shunned. In fact, I personally shunned it: My first NY number was a 347, and I couldn’t wait to dump it in favor of 646. 646 is deemed worthy, and an acceptable alternative to 212 (which is fairly impossible to snag).
Is this a preference for palindromes over non-palindromes? Or just a distrust of the new kid on the block? (New Yorkers have had over a decade to get used to 646.)
I think it’s a safe bet, though, that the first time someone says he has a 539 number, the person being told this will say something like “Where the hell do you live?”
And we here in the 405 should not be smug; we’ll be facing something like this ourselves in a couple of years. (572?)
McGehee »
8 February 2010 · 6:10 pm
I remember a “Seinfeld” episode where one of the gang was angstualizing over getting a new phone number that might not have the 212 area code. The question is whether real people get that way about such things in New York — unless it’s, are there real people in New York?
I think there are, but I think they don’t.
CGHill »
8 February 2010 · 6:45 pm
There was a Simpsons episode in which the town was divided into two area codes, but this wasn’t an overlay: it was a split, right down the middle. Apparently the “better” part of town got to keep 636, while the “other” part was banished to 939.
At the time this episode aired, 636 was already being implemented in Missouri, though not, I note, near Springfield, Missouri.
CT »
8 February 2010 · 9:37 pm
In that same Seinfeld episode, Elaine (who was the one who got stuck with the then-new 646 number) said that when she first moved to New York, she was a (gasp) 718 — and she cried for a whole week as a result. About sums it up.
As much as the area code isn’t supposed to matter, I’ll further note that when I first moved to NY, I had intended to keep my old Florida number. After about a month of job-hunting that typically got hampered by quizzical queries about “where 727 is”, I gave it up and went for the local exchange.
CGHill »
8 February 2010 · 9:52 pm
This apparently also works in ZIP codes. There was a Saturday Night Live sendup of Beverly Hills 90210, in which the teens learned to their horror that the Postal Service was changing their precious ZIP over to 90218.
“Omigod, we’ll be in the Valley!” one of them cried.
fillyjonk »
9 February 2010 · 6:41 am
Wow, I had no idea that area codes could be infra dig or markers of status.
Lynn »
9 February 2010 · 8:35 am
Sh*t! I hadn’t heard that the decision was final. Whose responsible this? I want to go slap the bastard.
CGHill »
9 February 2010 · 10:12 am
On the slap list: Bob Anthony and Jeff Cloud of the Corp Comm. (Dana Murphy opposed it.)
(Source.)