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Post by Darkash on Sept 8, 2005 20:41:20 GMT
I am writing an essay, and I have a bit of a problem. I need a British-style phone number for my story. I am fairly sure that the numbers don't follow the American 7-digit (well, 10 digit with area code) system, but I don't know what they look like. Since I know many of our members are from across the pond, I thought it was worth a try to ask here. So, what's a British-style phone number look like?
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Post by outspaced on Sept 9, 2005 7:57:32 GMT
British phone numbers are usually (but not always) in the following format:
(xxxxx) Area code (xxxxxx) Actual phone number
The area code relates to your county (e.g. Warwickshire, Gloucestershire), but cities often have their own separate area code.
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Post by Doomy on Sept 9, 2005 9:12:15 GMT
Do a dummy search on www.yell.com for more examples than you can shake a stick at.
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Post by Al on Sept 9, 2005 12:51:46 GMT
what I noticed here was that there is no standard... but overall it is the seven digit code if you are calling land line to land line within the same area code (for example Edinburgh has an area code of 0131-xxx-xxxx) but rural scotland may only have six numbers, like sterling xxx-xxx. For mobiles, people have to use their area codes, so it appears like ouspaced mentioned with eleven digits. I was very confused when I moved here Al
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Post by Doomy on Sept 9, 2005 13:16:06 GMT
Another thing to be mindful of is that the first digit or two after the area code also identify the location, acting like a secondary area code. For instance, in the town where I live all the numbers have a 6 or 7 as the first digit after the area code; in the next town over (a couple of miles away), everything starts with an 8. Meanwhile in a big city like Glasgow (area code 0141) the first three digits of the phone number identify the neighbourhood where that land line is located. So if you want to create a convincing fake telephone number for a real place, get a real number from there and just change the last two or three digits. Of course, chances are that the new number will be a real one belonging to someone else...
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Post by Al on Sept 9, 2005 15:45:51 GMT
That is a good point, all the numbers in my neighbourhood in Edinburgh all start with the same three numbers Al
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Manxman
Kai Lord
We Are The Vikings
Posts: 33
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Post by Manxman on Sept 10, 2005 7:26:52 GMT
The Isle of Man (my home island in the UK) has 01624 as its area code and 07624 for moblies (cell phones) and the next 2 digits of six are the local area code eg my number 01624 86**** and of course if you are dialing the uk from outside the uk you drop the 0 and add 44 eg from the states dial 4462486****
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Post by Al on Sept 12, 2005 9:51:44 GMT
gets confusing, eh? Not like in north america where there is one standard for the entire continent! Al
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Post by Dusk Fox on Sept 12, 2005 15:35:58 GMT
gets confusing, eh? Not like in north america where there is one standard for the entire continent! Al I find it both amusing and annoying that the UK, roughly the size of California when you group it all together, can't seem to standardize a damn thing. How the hell do you run an empire that way?
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Post by Al on Sept 20, 2005 8:57:10 GMT
I think that was the secret to British success... kinda left all the parts to do things their own way, with the centre just co-ordinating. Al
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Post by Dusk Fox on Sept 20, 2005 14:59:57 GMT
Right. The secret to British success is that you can't use a hairdryer made in London when you travel to Brussels. That's friggin' brilliant.
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Post by Al on Sept 20, 2005 15:38:09 GMT
Brussels is not in the UK.
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Post by outspaced on Sept 20, 2005 18:03:59 GMT
And never will be!!
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Manxman
Kai Lord
We Are The Vikings
Posts: 33
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Post by Manxman on Sept 21, 2005 6:01:47 GMT
Right. The secret to British success is that you can't use a hairdryer made in London when you travel to Brussels. That's friggin' brilliant. Ah but you can! just not in the way it was designed. You can use it as a paperweight or door stop.
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Post by Al on Sept 21, 2005 8:50:20 GMT
And never will be!! Ahh, the incarnation of good old fashioned English Euroscepticism! Gotta love it! Al
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