From today, dialing 999 won’t get you the emergency services. And that’s not the only thing that’s changing. Nicer ambulances, faster response times and better-looking drivers mean they’re not just the emergency services — they’re your emergency services. So, remember the new number: 0118 999 881 999 119 725… 3.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 10 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I know the number is exaggerated for comedic effect, but it blows my silly little 'murican mind that phone numbers in the UK have variable length. All of our numbers are the same length. Country code (1), area code (757) prefix (368) and then the line number (0441). I'm sure something else might exist for super niche things or something, and we've got the 3 digit important numbers, like 911 (emergency/cops) or 988 (suicide prevention hotline), but personal numbers are always 7 digits plus the area code. It's just weird to my brain that the length can be variable within a country.

Also, try giving that example number a call...

[–] doctordevice@lemmy.ca 6 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

It also blows my American mind how memorizable that long number is. It's probably largely the jingle, but I can remember that cold without thinking about it for years. But I can only hold like 4 American phone numbers in my head. Without my contacts I can call: myself (helpful), my wife (I'd better), and both of my parents (good to have backups).

That's the end of the list.

[–] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

I still remember every phone number from the day I learned to memorize phone numbers until I got my first cell phone. I remember my pager number. I remember my high school best friend's parents' number. I still know the number to the Mongolian BBQ joint that I ordered from when I was stationed in South Carolina. None of these are useful to me.

Also of no use is my icq number from the 90s that I remember.

However, the only useful numbers I remember are my main phone number, my parents land line (but that's a holdover from before my first cell), and one friend who lives out of state. I don't know anyone's number who lives within 4 hours of me.

I don't know what's wrong with my brain.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 3 points 18 hours ago

Same thing that's wrong with mine: the brain is really good at working collaboratively with other shit, and that means if the phone can remember the numbers your brain will happily give that task to the phone. I can remember so many number from before I had a cell, and almost none since then.

It's also got to do with repetition. We used to dial the number each time, now we almost never type the digits in, just pull up a contact (or more likely, a text from them) and hit call

[–] doctordevice@lemmy.ca 1 points 23 minutes ago

I guess I do also have my childhood landline still, but that's been out of service for over 15 years. But it is one more phone number I have memorized.

[–] Atomic@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 hours ago

Fire! Fire! Looking forward to hearing from you.

[–] DmMacniel@feddit.org 3 points 17 hours ago

No that's too formal