By now, everyone knows telephoning can be very, very exciting! You can ask that little sweetheart from geometry class to the prom, have a pizza pie delivered or even say "Whassupwhassupwhassup" to a friend on the far side of the world.
But slow down there, mister! Like the song says, you have to know how to hold them and fold them, and if you don't learn dialing, you could get unruly and find yourself in jail, where people will be even less interested in your rock band.
So in the interest of helping Russell Crowe avoid any future evenings locked in a New York City police station, here's a demonstration with a pretend person. We'll call him Mel. Mel has a room at the Brooklyn Motor Inn in Red Hook, and he wants to call Sydney, Australia.
Right away: trouble.
"They would have to use a calling card," Vinnie Patel, the manager, said yesterday.
This is a blessing in disguise, because calling cards tell you just what to do.
"For calls to any other country," one card says (Australia = another country), "dial 011 + the country code + the city code + the telephone number."
Now Mel is cooking with gas. He puts the telephone to his ear. If he does not hear a hum, he turns it around. In the directory, he finds country code 61 and city code 2, and he knows his friend's 8-digit number. Telephoning is easy!
But already, Mel has made a mistake.
"To dial anywhere, you have to dial 9," Mr. Patel said. "Everybody knows that."
by Michael Brick
[Source]