Dial 9 First
I was in the school’s main office when a middle school student entered and asked the secretary if he could use the office phone to call home. She gave him permission then said, “Just dial 9 first.”
I turned to the student, “Excuse me, can you tell me what ‘dial’ means?”
He said, “Yeah, it means to push down.”
There you go, a generation for which the actual meaning of the verb ‘dial’ is lost.
I wonder if Dial-a-Prayer is now called Push-a-Prayer?
Follow W5education.wordpress.com for stories every Wednesday and Friday
Like this:
Like Loading...
Published by Gary Caines
Gary Caines is a retired teacher. During his 32 year career he taught in Newfoundland and New Brunswick and in private and public schools. He has been a principal, vice-principal, district supervisor and, something of which he is quite proud, has taught at least 1 course at every grade level – yes, that includes kindergarten.
Over the years he has served as Aide-de-Camp for three Lieutenant Governors and retired as a navigator from the Naval Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. He directed and produced school musicals and coached rugby at four different high schools (he was still playing the game at 56). He is a recording artist, a past-master of the Masonic Lodge and, for ten years, served as a volunteer ambulance driver. He has climbed mountains in BC and been bitten by mosquitoes in Labrador. Gary has sailed from Halifax to Thunder Bay and return.
He once taught a class in Appenzell, Switzerland and twice performed with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Oh, and something else of which he is proud, he has two beautiful children. In the spring of 2015 he became a grand-father and did so again in the summer of 2017.
He has a lot of stories to tell.
View all posts by Gary Caines
