The great thing about a free market system is that folks will come up with all sorts of ingenious market twists to things that were never considered originally.
Who, for example, thought that phone number portability would lead to folks selling cool phone numbers on eBay?
Remember the Tommy TuTone Mega Hit, “Jenny/867-5309”? YOU CAN HAVE 212-867-5309 AS YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER. GET THE GREATEST NUMBER IN THE GREATEST CITY. For business or personal use— have a truly distinctive phone number. I currently am the owner of 212-867-5309. I will transfer the number to the highest bidder. Number portability has allowed me to put this up for sale. Now you can transfer this phone number to any cellphone in the US or with telephone over the internet (like Vonage — see www.vonage.com), you can be anywhere in the world and actually have Jenny’s number.
Cool.
(via BoingBoing)
I sold my 6-digit ICQ number on eBay a couple of years ago. Got over US$80 for it. Early-adopter cache sells. 🙂
There is a local plumbing company(in RI, Gem Plumbing) that actually has that number. And they have that as part of their on truck advertising,
“Just like the song, 867-5309!”
It’s a great number to have until you realise that there are jerks out there that will keep calling the number to crank call you.
My in-laws have a second line whose last four numbers can spell out an Anglo-Saxon term referring to conjugal duties. They occasionally get phone calls from kids who giggle and snort and ask if they know what their phone number spells. Their favorite reply (which usually prevents any further calls): “Yes. Do your parents know you know that word?”
Or they could say it spelled duck or eval. Back when I was in high school I was in West Side Story. The director was going through motivation for the song Officer Krupke. The song ends with “Gee Officer Krupke, krup you!” The director goes well the real word begins with and f and ends with a k. One of the cast jumped up and down and yelled I know, I know, firetruck! We had to quit for the day because we couldn’t stop laughing.