Sometimes you’d go to pick up the phone to call someone but you couldn’t because your neighbor was busy talking, so you’d have to put the receiver down gently in hopes they didn’t hear it and think you were eavesdropping on them.
A librarian I knew used to tell us about the old couple she shared a party line with growing up. She said she occasionally tried to eavesdrop but the conversations were always too boring.
Sometimes you’d go to pick up the phone to call someone but you couldn’t because your neighbor was busy talking, so you’d have to put the receiver down gently in hopes they didn’t hear it and think you were eavesdropping on them.
This was called a “party line”. But it was never a party!
A librarian I knew used to tell us about the old couple she shared a party line with growing up. She said she occasionally tried to eavesdrop but the conversations were always too boring.
I saw an episode of I love Lucy where she can’t use the phone because the neighbor was talking and didn’t understand why.