Our cable and wireless were out for many hours today. The outage was widespread. Instead of switching the box back on (again and again), I called the tech-support number (again and again) to check if the problem had been solved. And each time, before I could hear the recorded report that the outage continued: “Please enter the ten-digit telephone number you are calling in reference to.”
So highfalutin. Better: “Please enter the ten-digit telephone number you’re calling about.”
Does anyone else remember when people on the telephone used to ask, “May I ask what this is in reference to?” And “Whom should I say is calling?”
Related reading
All OCA telephone posts (Pinboard)
[Yes, that should be who.]
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Hours of outage
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comments: 2
I was about to say that I DO say exactly those things (or did 10-15 years ago when I had occasion to regularly answer phones affiliated with fixed physical locations rather than today's personal mobile lines.) But I could remember using "whoms"--"Wait, they were WRONG? I was WRONG?!?..." Repeating it to myself, I think it MY whom-including telephone set-praise was "To whom may I transfer your call?" Is(n't) that correct, at least?
Yes, for sure. Substitute another pronoun to check: I should say she (not her) is calling. I may transfer your call to her (not she).
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