SUBSCRIBER—"I vas talking mit my husband und now I don't hear him any more. You must of pushed him off de vire."
A German woman called up Central and instructed her as follows:
"Ist dis de mittle? Veil dis is Lena. Hang my hustband on dis line. I vant to speak mit him."
In China when the subscriber rings up exchange the operator may be expected to ask:
"What number does the honorable son of the moon and stars desire?"
"Hohi, two-three."
Silence. Then the exchange resumes.
"Will the honorable person graciously forgive the inadequacy of the insignificant service and permit this humbled slave of the wire to inform him that the never-to-be-sufficiently censured line is busy?"