Dumbing of Age Book Fourteen

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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BUFFER WATCH Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:

October 20, 2026

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Posted In: comic
└ Tags: lucy, sarah

Discussion (137) ¬

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  1. Cattleprod
    Cattleprod
    July 5, 2024 at 12:06 am | # | Reply

    Wow, this is up early. I usually check the site around this time to reread yesterday’s.

    I like Sarah’s suitably grumpy avatar.

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      July 5, 2024 at 12:08 am | # | Reply

      literally perfect Gravatar for that comment XD

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      July 5, 2024 at 12:08 am | # | Reply

      I like Lucy’s suitably Starfire avatar.

      And I like to think that’s just the happiest Sarah has ever looked in a photo.

      • NGPZ
        NGPZ
        July 5, 2024 at 2:52 am | # | Reply

        for some reason i keep seein those as Starfire and Huey Freeman from the Boondocks XD

        cartoon network brainrot is real

        • Psychie
          Psychie
          July 5, 2024 at 6:00 am | # | Reply

          To be fair, Lucy’s avatar *is* Starfire, I believe from Teen Titans Go given the more chibi-esque art style, but it’s a bit small to tell.

          • ValdVin
            ValdVin
            July 5, 2024 at 6:55 am | # | Reply

            I don’t know TTG except by name, but is Starfire”s personality something which screams Lucy?

            • anonymsly
              anonymsly
              July 5, 2024 at 7:25 am | # | Reply

              Lucy’s always been a fan of Starfire, specifically Teen Titans Starfire, so yes?

              • thejeff
                thejeff
                July 5, 2024 at 10:19 am | # | Reply

                Lucy’s first appearance, over in Shortpacked! was as a generic Starfire fan.

                • ValdVin
                  ValdVin
                  July 5, 2024 at 4:02 pm | #

                  Ahh. That3s what i get for not knowing Shortpacked! very well. Time for a reread.

            • Lokitsu
              Lokitsu
              July 5, 2024 at 8:44 am | # | Reply

              Starfire is almost always upbeat and positive, unless you hurt her friends, or offend her principles, then take cover.

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      July 5, 2024 at 7:16 am | # | Reply

      I love to put a grumpy face in my avatar (not only here, but in my personal pics). But, often, people tells me I need to smile more)

  2. Schpoonman
    Schpoonman
    July 5, 2024 at 12:08 am | # | Reply

    Sarah’s trying.

    She’s ver–

    • Nono
      Nono
      July 5, 2024 at 12:10 am | # | Reply

      -satile?

      • Nymph
        Nymph
        July 5, 2024 at 1:38 am | # | Reply

        Hot.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2024 at 12:37 am | # | Reply

      Verraising the entire raid because they didn’t bother killing adds, and probably she won’t even get a single comm off it.

      • Nono
        Nono
        July 5, 2024 at 1:21 am | # | Reply

        Also they’re the only rezzer because all the other DPS slots are Pictomancers.

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          July 5, 2024 at 1:38 am | # | Reply

          The joys of a new patch (sincere).

        • anonymsly
          anonymsly
          July 5, 2024 at 7:23 am | # | Reply

          Be fair! One or two of the other deeps are Vipers.

          If I were less irrationally nervous of tanking I would be taking the ‘even more instant queues than usual’ gift that is two new deeps jobs and actually leveling tank jobs.

      • Schpoonman
        Schpoonman
        July 5, 2024 at 5:14 pm | # | Reply

        I understand some of these words.

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          July 5, 2024 at 5:36 pm | # | Reply

          Verraise is a skill Red Mages get that resurrects a fallen party member. They’re handy in a raid because they can cast it twice in quick succession, basically saving a run in a pinch.

          Adds are additional enemies summoned by a boss, to make the fight trickier. A lot of the time, they have to be killed before the boss finishes charging a huge move, or else everyone just dies instantly (known as a “wipe”).

          “Comm” is short for “Commendation”, a little kudos you can give out at the end of a mission. Usually they’ll go to healers by default, for keeping everyone alive, but an especially good DPS (like the double-reviving Red Mage) will sometimes get one.

  3. True Survivor
    True Survivor
    July 5, 2024 at 12:08 am | # | Reply

    Cool, Lucy has Starfire as her avatar.

    Also, what type of texting has avatars? How, can I get in on that action?

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      July 5, 2024 at 12:12 am | # | Reply

      I’ve got some on my generic Android text messaging app. Most people haven’t set them. Not sure if they are inherent or dragged over from my phone contacts.

      Also, Facebook Messenger has them.

      Of course, I assume people here are using some new app that all the cool kids are using today, not old farts like me.

      • Jeremiah
        Jeremiah
        July 5, 2024 at 12:18 am | # | Reply

        Also WhatsApp, a pretty popular message app here on latin America. (Also run by the facebook people)

        • zee
          zee
          July 5, 2024 at 1:07 pm | # | Reply

          Pretty sure it’s the most popular messenger in most western countries outside the US

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2024 at 12:57 am | # | Reply

      They’re using Line. It’s common in Japan, especially around Indiana.

      • ktbear
        ktbear
        July 5, 2024 at 4:07 am | # | Reply

        Wait, when did Indiana move to Japan?? I realise with the current political climate thats actually a good idea but seriously, when??

        • eh, whatever
          eh, whatever
          July 5, 2024 at 4:27 am | # | Reply

          Joke.

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          July 5, 2024 at 5:01 am | # | Reply

          Y’know what? People keep asking me for all these impossible receipts lately, how about you tell me how Indiana isn’t part of Japan, huh? How about that fuckin’ twist for once? If you’re playing along with the fiction I’ve written, do it anyway, let’s see one of you fuckers do some world building for a change. I do all the damn work around here and get nine of the credit. I invented Celeryshipping (Walky X Tyler), I started the “Who’s Carlos?” trend in Book 9, fuck, I even rented out banner ad space for a goddamn one-off joke about Meredith’s Magical Juice a few years ago, but apparently nobody else is willing to meet me halfway and just point on a simple map of Japan to indicate which part isn’t Indi-fuckin’-ana.

          • lyzyrdwyzyrd
            lyzyrdwyzyrd
            July 5, 2024 at 12:19 pm | # | Reply

            Aren’t you also the ‘it’s a phone!’ guy?

            • Taffy
              Taffy
              July 5, 2024 at 5:31 pm | # | Reply

              I’m not any guy you’ve ever heard of.

          • NGPZ
            NGPZ
            July 5, 2024 at 12:46 pm | # | Reply

            Meredith’s Magical Juice do get me goin ✨️

            wait that’s weed right?

          • Mark
            Mark
            July 5, 2024 at 5:27 pm | # | Reply

            Japan considered annexing Indiana around 1814, but they realized they didn’t know what to do with all of that corn so they gave up the plan.

          • Nymph
            Nymph
            July 5, 2024 at 7:36 pm | # | Reply

            The part that’s Tokyo isn’t Indiana – it’s actually Ohio. Weird little factoid for you there.

    • Kazuma Taichi
      Kazuma Taichi
      July 5, 2024 at 5:58 pm | # | Reply

      Willis is just future-proofing

  4. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    July 5, 2024 at 12:08 am | # | Reply

    Sarah, maybe respond to what she says rather than what you are theorizing that she is thinking…

  5. Nono
    Nono
    July 5, 2024 at 12:09 am | # | Reply

    The curses of speech to text.

    • Dean
      Dean
      July 5, 2024 at 12:32 am | # | Reply

      Is she even using speech to text, though?

      • Reltzik
        Reltzik
        July 5, 2024 at 12:56 am | # | Reply

        The punctuation looks pretty intelligible and “Sarah” is spelled with an h, so I’d guess not.

        • Yumi
          Yumi
          July 5, 2024 at 1:22 am | # | Reply

          I assume we’re speculation on if Sarah is using speech to text rather than Lucy. That said, I’d expect her speech to text to produce “Sarah” rather than “Sara” or a different spelling, as at least in the Midwest, that’s a much more community spelling.

    • eh, whatever
      eh, whatever
      July 5, 2024 at 4:28 am | # | Reply

      The curses of extroversion!

  6. Yumi
    Yumi
    July 5, 2024 at 12:11 am | # | Reply

    Sarah, let me introduce you to your new favorite pastime, holding down the backspace key instead of hitting send.

  7. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    July 5, 2024 at 12:11 am | # | Reply

    New Lucy PFP and chat color. compare. Also, my “Lucy is still at the restaurant” theory is wrong.

    • Opus the Poet
      Opus the Poet
      July 5, 2024 at 8:16 pm | # | Reply

      Well obviously wrong because we can see her posters on the wall behind her.

  8. UrsulaDavina
    UrsulaDavina
    July 5, 2024 at 12:15 am | # | Reply

    I don’t know if you can fail texting but it feels like Sarah is failing.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      July 5, 2024 at 1:01 am | # | Reply

      If she’s not drunkenly trying to proposition (by name) someone whose number she just got and accidentally sending it to a boyfriend she’s trying to cheat on, then she’s no more than one standard deviations below the mean. That’s like D+ territory.

  9. Jeremiah
    Jeremiah
    July 5, 2024 at 12:16 am | # | Reply

    Baby steps!

  10. Dday
    Dday
    July 5, 2024 at 12:17 am | # | Reply

    GOD Lucy shut up already!

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2024 at 12:53 am | # | Reply

      She’s yappin’ my fuckin’ ear off, over here.

      • zee
        zee
        July 5, 2024 at 1:10 pm | # | Reply

        I read that I’m the home safety hotline prank caller voice and god I hope you know what that means

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          July 5, 2024 at 8:02 pm | # | Reply

          Internet says it’s from a video game I ain’t played.

  11. Wereg
    Wereg
    July 5, 2024 at 12:20 am | # | Reply

    What an incredibly Sarah interaction(affectionate)

  12. Agemegos
    Agemegos
    July 5, 2024 at 12:21 am | # | Reply

    Amber and Dina are holding a party. Sarah is inviting Lucy because why?

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      July 5, 2024 at 12:24 am | # | Reply

      She’s reaching out.

      • Jeremiah
        Jeremiah
        July 5, 2024 at 12:29 am | # | Reply

        And because Lucy might actually know how to plan party activities.

    • Alongcameaspider
      Alongcameaspider
      July 5, 2024 at 12:29 am | # | Reply

      More body’s = less alcohol per person = lower chance of disastrous decision making

      At least that’s Sarah’s train of thought, it is of course flawed in that this cast of characters doesn’t need alcohol to make bad decisions

      • Shakes
        Shakes
        July 5, 2024 at 12:46 am | # | Reply

        In fact inviting Lucy is the single worst decision anyone could have made now Walky is banging Dorothy again.
        Unfortunately for her she isn’t aware of it… yet.

        • Nymph
          Nymph
          July 5, 2024 at 7:37 pm | # | Reply

          The worst decision anyone could have made? That’s just a failure of imagination on your part.

      • Sav
        Sav
        July 5, 2024 at 1:19 am | # | Reply

        Also, the party activities that Lucy would plan are likely more orderly (and less likely to cause problems), I’m guessing.

      • Amelie Wikström
        Amelie Wikström
        July 5, 2024 at 2:15 am | # | Reply

        And they’re teenaged lightweights and that’s a huge jar of strong liquor. I’m guessing enough to give like 25 of them alcohol poisoning if they really try.

        • Stanistani
          Stanistani
          July 5, 2024 at 8:51 am | # | Reply

          Teenaged Lightweight College Doofuses

          • morleuca
            morleuca
            July 5, 2024 at 3:19 pm | # | Reply

            Heroes in a Half bath

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      July 5, 2024 at 1:36 am | # | Reply

      It was explained in the previous few days’ comics.

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      July 5, 2024 at 7:13 am | # | Reply

      because chaos

  13. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    July 5, 2024 at 12:23 am | # | Reply

    This can only end well, right? I mean what are the odds of something going wrong, and something bad happening? Surely they are going to be mature and responsible, right?

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      July 5, 2024 at 1:40 am | # | Reply

      Yes. This comic is called Mature&Responsibling of Age

  14. AGV/Ruby
    AGV/Ruby
    July 5, 2024 at 12:39 am | # | Reply

    I’m fascinated by people who type exactly in the same way that they speak.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2024 at 12:55 am | # | Reply

      Do y’all not do that? Severely strange, I think it’s groovy.

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      July 5, 2024 at 1:52 am | # | Reply

      They are using periods. I though using punctuation in texts was one of the signs that you are were a horrible old rude person.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        July 5, 2024 at 3:21 am | # | Reply

        No, That’s TYPING Random Words in ALL CAPS… and PAUSING… with ELLIPISES… FOR Emphasis. Alexa order corn.

        • Jeremiah
          Jeremiah
          July 5, 2024 at 3:35 am | # | Reply

          Really? I didn’t know those were considered rude. I just thought they make the tone I try to convey easier to grasp.

          • Taffy
            Taffy
            July 5, 2024 at 4:45 am | # | Reply

            Adding a lot of ellipses makes it look like a zombie got hold of your keyboard. Or like you’re passing out in the middle of typing.

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            July 5, 2024 at 7:54 am | # | Reply

            Boomer townies love posting entire screeds about irrelevant nothing or member berries under every post. They’re always full paragraphs, usually devoid of context, and littered with caps lock and ellipses for some reason. I see one regular in my local group who capitalizes every word he writes, in addition to random all-caps.

            It’s bizarre.

            • Bittersweet
              Bittersweet
              July 5, 2024 at 8:50 am | # | Reply

              The ellipses are apparently because back in the age of pay per text, they were meant to signify thought breaks/line breaks or smth (because you weren’t going to pay to send two). Now it’s just a habit that lots of old people can’t shake.

              I don’t think I even had a cell phone until right at the end of pay per text so I can’t say for certain. I remember only being allowed to make phone calls after 8 though lol.

              • Mark
                Mark
                July 5, 2024 at 5:34 pm | # | Reply

                People who know me understand my ellipses. People who don’t know me won’t be getting TXTs from me.

                Yes, I’m old. What’cha gonna do about it?

            • NGPZ
              NGPZ
              July 5, 2024 at 1:03 pm | # | Reply

              One of my white-ass boomer relatives does the all-caps thing because they have poor eyesight and don’t know how to make the font bigger, apparently.

              They’re also a shadow-Trumper who wound up in Facebook jail repeatedly 9-9

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          July 5, 2024 at 4:51 am | # | Reply

          The real curve ball is to “put” certain “words” in quotation “marks” like you’re “being” cheeky, when there’s “no” actual reason f”o”r doing it.

          I “went” to the “store” today
          Like, why is that in quotes? Were you at home?

      • Mark
        Mark
        July 5, 2024 at 5:32 pm | # | Reply

        Too bad for whoever. I write TXTs the same way I write (short) letters or research papers.

      • Nymph
        Nymph
        July 5, 2024 at 7:40 pm | # | Reply

        I use punctuation in texts because I grew up with a perfectionist mother and it invaded certain parts of my life. If people want to extract some secret cranky message from that it’s a them problem, not a me problem.

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          July 5, 2024 at 9:47 pm | # | Reply

          I use punctuation and at least pretty good grammar in all my text communication because it helps convey thoughts clearly and with as little ambiguity as possible.

          Of course, there are plenty of dumbfucks who still manage to take everything I’ve just said in the stupidest direction possible, going out of their way to get upset about their batshit bonkers interpretations, but like you said, that’s a them problem.

          • Azhrei Vep
            Azhrei Vep
            July 5, 2024 at 10:58 pm | # | Reply

            I use punctuation because it just looks bad if I don’t, and people who don’t like it don’t matter.

          • Nymph
            Nymph
            July 5, 2024 at 11:58 pm | # | Reply

            Strongly agree.

            Sometimes, no matter how clear the communication, some people will find a way to hurt their own feelings anyway.

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      July 5, 2024 at 5:42 am | # | Reply

      I used to put “um”s in my texts as a shorthand for “I’m not confident about what I’m saying”, until I learned that it comes across as “I am obnoxiously confident about what I’m saying” because people read it as “Um, actually“, even if there isn’t an “actually”.

  15. Blume
    Blume
    July 5, 2024 at 12:42 am | # | Reply

    Very cute Lucy faces in this one 😀

  16. jeffepp
    jeffepp
    July 5, 2024 at 12:47 am | # | Reply

    Sarah needs a drink to do this. Party starts early!

  17. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    July 5, 2024 at 12:50 am | # | Reply

    I wonder if she is doing this through voice typing for her, or if she is just… manually typing all of this awkwardness.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      July 5, 2024 at 1:02 am | # | Reply

      It’s a social interaction, and Sarah doesn’t do social interaction. Even typing things out manually she’s still going to thumble it.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2024 at 1:03 am | # | Reply

      Sarah is secretly adorable.

      • Nymph
        Nymph
        July 5, 2024 at 1:37 am | # | Reply

        It’s not a well-kept secret.

        • Needfuldoer
          Needfuldoer
          July 5, 2024 at 3:19 am | # | Reply

          “Reluctantly adorable”, then?

          • Stanistani
            Stanistani
            July 5, 2024 at 8:53 am | # | Reply

            Violently adorable. Baka.

    • Mark
      Mark
      July 5, 2024 at 1:42 pm | # | Reply

      “Wait, what??? Phone, stop typing everything I say!”

  18. Queezle
    Queezle
    July 5, 2024 at 1:13 am | # | Reply

    Oh Sarah. She is trying. Bless her. I would like Sarah and Lucy to be friends for two reasons:
    1. to rub it in Sarah’s face
    2. to rub it in Radiah’s face
    Also, maybe they could have a cute friendship.

  19. shrub
    shrub
    July 5, 2024 at 1:19 am | # | Reply

    I really hope Lucy has some self respect and tells Sarah to go away (I want Lucy to tell Sarah else…)

    • shrub
      shrub
      July 5, 2024 at 1:23 am | # | Reply

      Dangnabbit I mean tell Sarah something else

  20. Taffy
    Taffy
    July 5, 2024 at 1:35 am | # | Reply

    I want Lucy and Sarah to make out. Not because they’re attracted to each other or especially curious about it, but to negate the effects of the oncoming Genesis Wave.

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      July 5, 2024 at 1:38 am | # | Reply

      I want Lucy and Sarah to make out. Send comment.

  21. C.T. Phipps
    C.T. Phipps
    July 5, 2024 at 1:49 am | # | Reply

    Odd thought: What does Lucy think of the HBO TITANS Starfire?

  22. IntangibleMatter
    IntangibleMatter
    July 5, 2024 at 1:50 am | # | Reply

    There are two styles of texters.

    Tag yourself I’m a Sarah

  23. Hazel
    Hazel
    July 5, 2024 at 2:08 am | # | Reply

    Rookie move, Sarah. The whole point of texting is that you can leave the other person on “typing…” while you wrestle your inner demons.

  24. Amelie Wikström
    Amelie Wikström
    July 5, 2024 at 2:10 am | # | Reply

    Who is this Sarah with 30 friends on her phone who replies to texts faster than she can think? It’s like with Neil drGrasse Tyson who turns into a different person on twitter, but not horrible. Maybe.

  25. Francoinblanco
    Francoinblanco
    July 5, 2024 at 2:50 am | # | Reply

    I’m not sure if this is the only correct version of starfire or a fake traitorous one

  26. Needfuldoer
    Needfuldoer
    July 5, 2024 at 3:17 am | # | Reply

    How can somebody be so good at phone calls, but so bad at text messages?

    https://www.dumbingofage.com/dozen/

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      July 5, 2024 at 3:27 am | # | Reply

      I think that just be masking. I’m assuming it’s afternoon and that’s why she don’t got too many spoons for it

      • Daibhid C
        Daibhid C
        July 5, 2024 at 5:37 am | # | Reply

        Yep. Also, that’s her screening someone else’s calls, this is her actually reaching out to someone while representing herself.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      July 5, 2024 at 8:57 am | # | Reply

      That was good at a phone call. This was better.

    • Bash
      Bash
      July 5, 2024 at 12:14 pm | # | Reply

      Because that was being polite to a parent, and this is interacting with a member of her own generation. Very different skillsets.

  27. anon
    anon
    July 5, 2024 at 3:49 am | # | Reply

    lol by the time she comes over everyone’s gonna be buzzed haha

  28. CianM1301
    CianM1301
    July 5, 2024 at 4:06 am | # | Reply

    She’s trying. God help her, she’s trying.

  29. Chris
    Chris
    July 5, 2024 at 4:54 am | # | Reply

    Total non-sequitur: what gen were these kids at the beginning, and what are they now?

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2024 at 5:04 am | # | Reply

      They were on Black & White, so Fifth Gen. Now they’re on Scarlet & Violet, which makes them Ninth Gen.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      July 5, 2024 at 10:39 am | # | Reply

      DoA started in 2010, so at that point the freshmen would have been born roughly in 1992 – Millennials.
      Now, they would have been born in 2006 – Gen Z
      Some of them originally appeared in another incarnation in Roomies! in 1997 – when they would have been born in 1979 – very late Gen X.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      July 5, 2024 at 11:15 am | # | Reply

      Robin is still a millennial, but not for long.

  30. Da Boy
    Da Boy
    July 5, 2024 at 5:14 am | # | Reply

    I wonder if Lucy is thinking
    “Is she a Tsundere? One of those particularly violent and aggressive ones?”

  31. NGPZ
    NGPZ
    July 5, 2024 at 5:31 am | # | Reply

    In case anyone interested because of *recent events* in-comic,

    Games Done Quick is hosting a speedrunning charity marathon and at 4:00 PM GTAce gonna Any% speedrun Super Mario Bros.

    http://gamesdonequick.com/schedule/48

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      July 5, 2024 at 5:32 am | # | Reply

      * 4:00 Eastern Standard Time

  32. darkoneko
    darkoneko
    July 5, 2024 at 6:39 am | # | Reply

    Sarah how are you so bad at this

  33. ValdVin
    ValdVin
    July 5, 2024 at 6:51 am | # | Reply

    If this were anyone but Alpha Sweetie Lucy she might have hung up by now.

    (For anyone under forty, hanging up a phone is something we used to do at the end of a call initiated when Betsy at Central gave our party line phone our signal.)

    • anonymsly
      anonymsly
      July 5, 2024 at 7:20 am | # | Reply

      Almost 44, and can confirm! Phones used to be hung up on clicky bits that cut off the call, there was no end call button or option to leave on read. (Also, people could end calls FOR you, if they wanted to talk to you or use the phone, but depressing the clicky bits.)

      • Azhrei Vep
        Azhrei Vep
        July 5, 2024 at 11:04 pm | # | Reply

        And the existence of the clicky bits made the hanging up process much more final and dramatic, which was quite handy when you were angry with the person on the other end.

    • Bittersweet
      Bittersweet
      July 5, 2024 at 8:52 am | # | Reply

      Under 30 here, landline phones still existed and were common until at least 2010

      • Bittersweet
        Bittersweet
        July 5, 2024 at 8:54 am | # | Reply

        Just finished your comment, party lines were not lol

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          July 5, 2024 at 9:30 am | # | Reply

          Yeah. “Hanging up a phone” is probably more an over-30 thing, while party lines would be more an over 60 thing (at least), though rare examples apparently hung on much longer than I’d thought.

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      July 5, 2024 at 3:34 pm | # | Reply

      Idk what a party line is, but I’m only 30 and I’ve hung up a phone hundreds of times. Was Betsy hot?

      • ValdVin
        ValdVin
        July 5, 2024 at 4:10 pm | # | Reply

        I never saw her, but Betsy was very capable, had a mellifluous plummy contralto which could be stern when the situation called for it, and combined a friendly cordialness of someone who got to know your microemotions through your voice with professional performance.

        All those add up to appealing for many.

      • Mark
        Mark
        July 5, 2024 at 5:49 pm | # | Reply

        In ye olden dayes the local telco might not yet have pulled enough pairs to give each house in some neighborhood a private pair, so several houses were wired to the same line. The central office would send out different ring patterns to indicate which subscriber should pick up. My grandparents had some number “ring two” while the other subscribers on that pair had some other ring patterns. If you picked up someone else’s ring, you could eavesdrop. If your neighbors were very talkative, it might be difficult to make a call because the line was so often in use.

        There’s an example in Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation. Two local ladies are always on the line, talking about various acquaintances’ ghastly medical issues.

        Betsy sat at an operator console in a windowless building (alongside rows of other operators if this was a sizable locality), facing a plugboard and a number of patch cables with which she manually made connections between subscriber lines when asked, until Anton Strowger invented self-dialling because he thought the local operator was favoring the town’s other undertaker.

        There’s enough clues if you’re interested and, if not, you have lots of company.

        • thejeff
          thejeff
          July 5, 2024 at 8:10 pm | # | Reply

          I think party lines continued to exist well after the manual switchboard operators were gone. At least in some areas.

          A similar thing in practice that I do remember was having multiple phones in the house on one phone line. Which most often caused annoying interruptions when someone else picked up the other set to make a call, but could also be useful if you wanted a family conversation with grandma or something. And of course, if you quietly picked it up you could eavesdrop

          • Slartibeast Button, BIA
            Slartibeast Button, BIA
            July 5, 2024 at 10:31 pm | # | Reply

            Yes, we had a party line in the 1960s which only rang when it was for us. But sometimes you’d pick up and a call was in progress. By law, if you said it was an emergency they had to hang up so you could call the operator to put you through to the police, fire dept, or ambulance service. “Call 911” was not a thing yet.

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      July 5, 2024 at 7:44 pm | # | Reply

      I don’t think it has ever been possible to “hang up” from a text message though.

  34. Drain
    Drain
    July 5, 2024 at 8:44 am | # | Reply

    Hello again to my sweet people pleaser princess of the nerds

  35. Cloud
    Cloud
    July 5, 2024 at 1:25 pm | # | Reply

    [Insert The Happening reference here]

  36. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    July 5, 2024 at 2:43 pm | # | Reply

    Probably an unpopular opinion, but if someone texts you, “Hey, Lucy, this is Sarah” it’s a little bit bad form to say, “I know, I have your contact information.”
    Sarah’s identifying herself so keep Lucy from potentially needing to respond, “who’s this?” Bringing up that she has contact information just brings some of that awkward situation back. And it’s clearly flustered Sarah, to humorous effect. If Lucy’s goal were to be sociable, then she was a little rude. If however, her goal were to tease Sarah, because Jennifer’s in the room and she just got a “Is this Lucy?” text, then that makes more sense. Still rude, considering Lucy appointed herself teasing-police and told Sarah she didn’t have any friends when Sarah was teasing Joyce.

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      July 5, 2024 at 3:30 pm | # | Reply

      She opened the text conversation the way she would have if it was verbal.

    • Mark
      Mark
      July 5, 2024 at 5:58 pm | # | Reply

      Perhaps. What makes it more than a very minor annoyance (if that) is that, it seems, Sarah is one of those people like me who call with a script already composed in mind, and interrupting the script derails the intended conversation. That’s why I’d much rather email than phone (or have an extended TXT conversation): if I’m knocked off-script, I have to run my human-emulator in realtime to get onto the new course of the conversation and that takes real effort.

    • Yeet
      Yeet
      July 5, 2024 at 10:25 pm | # | Reply

      yeah it’s not the friendliest way to respond but I think it’s on purpose

  37. BBCC
    BBCC
    July 5, 2024 at 3:15 pm | # | Reply

    She’ll get there, Lucy. Eventually.

  38. Matrix
    Matrix
    July 5, 2024 at 5:57 pm | # | Reply

    Give me a sec

  39. thumb
    thumb
    July 5, 2024 at 8:25 pm | # | Reply

    Sarah and Lucy should be best friends. Because Sarah desperately needs someone who gets her, but doesn’t take her shit, doesn’t push at her, and doesn’t give her shit. She already has those and they’re doing their job just fine. Just needs one True Neutral in her party.

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