Where things belong, part 2

[ellarien]

In conversation on the way home, I was reminded of another of those odd little cultural differences. In the UK, the default place for the main phone in a home is in the entrance hall/lobby. I have no idea why, unless perhaps it's there for the greater convenience of strangers knocking on the front door and asking to use it, or because that's where one deals with outside incursions in general. If there isn't an entrance hall, or (as in the case of my London flat) the entrance hall is unfeasibly tiny, the phone will probably be in the living room. (There might be an extension in the master bedroom.) Around here (I have to be careful about generalizing, because my personal experience of people's homes in the US is limited to Arizona and Colorado), the main phone is most likely to be in the kitchen, which I suppose was handy in the days of stay-at-home, sink-bound housewives, though there'll be a phone jack in each bedroom as well. Of course, I've not seen many -- if any -- establishments in these parts with what I'd recognize as a hall.

Does anyone have any insights? Other places where the phone might be considered to belong, in the pre-cordless days?

Comments

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

In our current home, the main phone is on the built in desk in the tiny hallway between the kitchen and the living room. Of course, it's a cordless, so the charger sits there and the handset's usually on one of the living room tables. There's also an extension in our bedroom, in the tv room, and in Jordin's workroom. Because it's a big old well built house and if you're downstairs in the tv room you can't hear the phone in the hall ring. There is a phone on a separate line in Jordin's office which he used to use for his business. Hmm. I wonder if we need to get rid of that now that he's no longer self-employed.

In our previous house the main phone was in the kitchen with extensions in our bedroom and in the office.

In my parents' home, the main phone was always in the kitchen with an extension in their bedroom.

MKK

[ellarien]

Thanks for the data points!

One thing about having the phone in the hall in a typical British house is that it can be heard from all over, upstairs -- as the stairs go up from the hall -- as well as down.