Do you know what a party line was? (phone related)

We had one when I was a kid. We knew our ring and the neighbour's ring, but were so excited just to have a phone that my brother and I would run and answer no matter what the ring was. My Mom put a stop to that pretty quickly!

We had a 3-party line when we moved to Hawaii in 1955. My mom used to get upset because our neighbor was always on the phone.

We had a party line in Oregon growing up in the mid 70s. There were three parties on our line. I've never liked talking on the phone, and the party line didn't help. I always assumed someone was listening in.

I have a vague recollection of my grandmother's phone having a party line.

My kids can't believe you could hit the zero on your house phone and a human being would say "operator. How can I help you?" They're like "what would you ask them for?!?!" "Um, a phone number or to connect you with another line." If I was on the phone too long at our house and my dad was trying to call, he'd call the operator and they'd interrupt my call. I distinctly remember one saying "hey, your dad is trying to get through. You'd better hang up - he's MAD!"

I was born in the late 70s, we had a party line with one other neighbour. I don't know when we got a private line, by 1990 I'd say. I remember it took mom still picking up the phone to hear if it was free.

My DDs know what a rotary phone is. My grandma had one wired to her wall. She also had a cordless.

Of course. Does anyone remember Liza climbing the telephone pole, so that she could listen to other people's phone calls? (Green Acres)

My grandmother lived in the country and had a party line until the early seventies. I thought it was so much fun to secretly listen to others’ conversations, even though it was usually two old farmers talking about the price of cattle.

My parents renovated an old 1860s farmhouse, and we moved out to the farm in 1970. We had a a 4-party line at first, but it eventually dropped to a 2-party line before we just had our own in the mid-1970s.

I was in high school when we got the private line, but my siblings and I still didn’t really talk on the phone that much. Everybody was too busy between schoolwork and chores. We got on the bus at 6:30 in the morning and didn’t get home until close to 4:00. By the time you finished chores, had dinner, and got everything ready for school the next day, we had an hour or so to watch TV before bedtime.

I knew kids who spent a lot of time on the phone, but I just couldn’t comprehend having time for so much “idle conversation” LOL.

In high school, I was in a clique of 10 girls and all evening long after school we 10 would talk to other members of the group. You'd hear the same stories 5 or 6 times by the time you went to bed. I don't think I ever didn't have a phone line attached to my ear for 4 years. 

My mamaw and papaw had a party line. They lived in rural southeast VA. Everyone in their area was on the same party line. One very old neighbor was quite bossy, to be nice. She constantly was on the phone and heaven forbid you wanted to make a call. Or if someone would call my mamaw or papaw, she would get on the line and tell them to hang up if she felt like they talked to long. She was also known for listening on phone calls of other people.

It was the mid to late 1970's before private lines were available and they got a private line. The older neighbor kept her party line until they were no longer in use.

My grandkids have no idea of how to use a rotary dial phone and the concept of a party line is something they just can't fathom. LOL They are ages 18, 14 and 5.

I loved Rock Hudson and Doris Day movies and immediately thought of Pillow Talk when I read party line.

Some people have kept the party line alive today by having their cell phones on speaker while in public!

The farm families had party lines when I was young. We always had a private line as we lived in town.

I know what it was, but we never had one