Comments on: On Salmon, Trout, and Chat

By: Celeste M.

Celeste M. — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:23:10 +0000

I had this happen to me about a month ago (SternTrout asked me “Is freedom a bad thing?”), but the other person stopped talking before it could go anywhere interesting. That was the first time I’d heard of it.

I got mine right after I had posted a LiveJournal entry, so I think they may draw the AIM names that way, at least partially.

By: zzz

zzz — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:52:03 +0000

ok i’ve never heard the term “mopes”, so i did a lil searching. the great wiki thinks it’s a song by the blood hound gang. now as a noun i’ve got 1. someone who wastes time WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. is that right?

By: JaneM

JaneM — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:35:54 +0000

Back in the ‘dark ages’ (late 60’s) when I when I was a kid (long, long before 3 way calling was in use) a bunch of us would, at a predetermined time, call our own phone number to get the busy signal. We found that people on the same trunk line (or whatever it is called) could talk between the tones. “Hey beep Joe beep are beep you beep on beep the beep line?” We thought it was a very cool thing to do until Ma Bell got wind of it and threatened our lives. Random kids would get on and talk as well. It was pretty widespread and, looking back, pretty inventive for a bunch of ‘mopes’ (love that term, Jason!!)

By: Hayley

Hayley — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:12:44 +0000

I had gotten a few of those the other week. One started “Joseph Stalin, great leader or greatest leader?” which is something my friends would say, which only added to the confusion. I thought I had a virus so I formatted my hard drive, though I guess that was all for nothing…

By: Jason English

Jason English — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:55:19 +0000

I had a friend in middle school who did exactly what JP is talking about. He once called me and current mental_floss quizmaster Brett on 3-way. Brett’s dad answered. I figured out what was going on, so I didn’t say anything. His dad said, “Why would you call me and not talk, you mope?”

“You mope” is still one of my favorite expressions.

Good memories.

By: JP

JP — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:42:30 +0000

HA!

When I was in high school, a few of us friends used to spend hours “cousin-calling”….. we both had 3-way calling and would simultaneously call random numbers and let those two people interact with us giggling in the background.

They would either come to the conclusion that the “lines were crossed” (BY US!!), or start fighting or start chatting it up. If things got boring, we might have interjected a few foul words to get the two sparked up again.

We explored variations: calling two people at school who were friends and usually didn’t question who called who… calling two people who had a crush on one another (very awkward!).

In any case, it was all childish, but entertaining. I think the phone company eventually put a stop to it by not allowing us to simultaneously employ 3-way calling.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:21:55 +0000

I’ve actually had the chance to talk to ‘operators,’ the people who monitor and connect people, on more than one occasion. They’re a very interesting bunch of people.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:47:37 +0000

It happened, I have no idea how it got my aim, but by googling trout bots I was able to find a way to get my sn removed permanently.

By: JMN

JMN — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:01:13 +0000

I had one of these conversations about 2 weeks ago and just now realized what had happened. I got an IM from the screenname CapturedTrout asking if I believed in “Theological Determinism”. When I asked who it was they asked the same thing. We spent about 10 minutes debating why the other person IM’d us. I gave up and wrote it off as some random event… guess not!