In the late 19th century people were reacting to the telephone in exactly the way Gary Gulman relates in his bit about phones today.
The feeling was then, and is again today, that an incoming phone call is like barging into a meeting room, bedroom, social gathering, etc. and yelling "I want you to stop talking and listen to me right now!"
Go a little farther back, and communication went at the speed of...walking. Or perhaps a horse.
I have old nineteenth century newspapers reporting news from overseas. Generally, the news was between 4 and 6 weeks old. Famously, no one new that the war of 1812 was over, settled in Europe, even as the Battle of New Orleans was going on. It has got to alter perspective, when local news is still news, while overseas news is history.
OK, but the electric telegraph was in regular use when the phone came along. It was the comparison with the telegraph that made the incoming call seem rude. The original use of the telephone, in logistics and stock brokerage, had people just blurt out numbers when the recipient picked up the call. The notion of a conversation on the talk toy was preposterous.
In the late 19th century people were reacting to the telephone in exactly the way Gary Gulman relates in his bit about phones today.
The feeling was then, and is again today, that an incoming phone call is like barging into a meeting room, bedroom, social gathering, etc. and yelling "I want you to stop talking and listen to me right now!"
Voice telephone is an atrocity.
Go a little farther back, and communication went at the speed of...walking. Or perhaps a horse.
I have old nineteenth century newspapers reporting news from overseas. Generally, the news was between 4 and 6 weeks old. Famously, no one new that the war of 1812 was over, settled in Europe, even as the Battle of New Orleans was going on. It has got to alter perspective, when local news is still news, while overseas news is history.
OK, but the electric telegraph was in regular use when the phone came along. It was the comparison with the telegraph that made the incoming call seem rude. The original use of the telephone, in logistics and stock brokerage, had people just blurt out numbers when the recipient picked up the call. The notion of a conversation on the talk toy was preposterous.
That was hilarious because there is so much truth to it.