Sunday, June 16, 2013

Phone Number Word Search

Mnemonic phone numbers.  You know what I'm talking about: a computer store which lists its phone number as "Run-Fast".  Alternatively, they could have used "Sum-Fart" with that same number.  Or a florist with "4-flowers".  Notice it has 8 digits instead of the standard 7 - it always used to be that extra digits dialed at the end were ignored; I wonder if that still works.

You might be surprised how many phone numbers have interesting words hidden inside.  Go to DialABC to find out.  The other day I was just curious if my phone number had an interesting mnemonic.  I discovered that my work number can be listed as, "eye-plea" (maybe I'm a lawyer specializing in Ophthalmology‎).  Or "Ex-Dr. Lea" (poor Lea, lost her license to practice medicine).

It's harder if you have 1s or 0s in your number since those don't have letters associated with them.

Anyway, I was just curious, and vaguely remembered that there were sites which gave you suggestions.  The first several sites I tried ranged from OK to disappointing, and were mostly just platforms to serve up ads.  Then I found DialABC.  For the purpose I wanted, it was superior.  The visual presentation of the words was much better than a long list of combinations.  Plus, the site has other interesting goodies, like DTMF-number conversion, and even an anagram finder (my full name can be re-arranged to "vulgar fondest odes" - I guess I wrote dirty love limericks).

I like DialABC - it provides interesting services without being overly-promotional.