elvira

oh,tomi,I like the itty-bitty phone thing. okay okay I got it - I take a button (oh what 1" across maybe?) out of my pocket and start talking into it, something really tantalizing "Fredo, Fredo calm down - are you SURE he's dead?" or "the boat took on water so we couldn't light the candles until...." and trail off to a whisper.

JD

Even worse than the cellphone user is the cellphone user in an SUV. That's such a cliche nowadays to see some man driving along in his 6 ton penis extender blabbing on his cellphone and presumably driving with his knees. <BR>I do think that he figures that any screw-ups he makes on the highway will work out for him since he figures he's more apt to survive the accident. <BR>About 2 years ago I pulled one of these bozos out of his overturned Expedition on I-85 when he failed to see the road crew and all those funny-looking orange cones and the Highway Dept truck ahead of him stopped in his lane. He swerved to miss the truck and the Expedition started to dance and bobble on its tires until it flipped. He was hanging suspended from the safety belt harness. Most of his scalp was missing. He had passed me, cell phone in hand, as I came onto the Interstate. He met his Waterloo about 10 seconds later. <BR> <BR>

Ispy

elvira~<BR>"fredo,fredo-he is on the way,be sure to have the package~~~~~~" then look furtively around.

tomi

Elvira, you are a hoot!

ja

I, too, find cellphone users to be generally lacking in common courtesy and somewhat attention-seeking. However, I get to have my revenge - when at work, if I see someone using a cellphone inside the hospital, I get to - make that I am obliged to- tell them to turn it off!!!<BR>ja

Bonnie

We were recently in London and went into a couple of pubs where cellphones were banned. I thought that was a hopeful sign. One was Nag's Head in Knightsbridge.

Sara

JD:<BR><BR>You are so right about the SUV/cell phone driver.<BR>Driving vehicles the size of sperm whales and yacking into cell phones the size of a grain of rice.<BR>How I loathe them.<BR><BR>I'd like to create a tiny electronic device, that when activated would render a rude cell talkers phone useless...hehe

come

Are you people trying to tell us you never use cellphones? Come on!

RHM

I'm sorry, why is walking down a street talking on a cellphone more rude than walking down a street talking to somebody 'in the flesh'? I really don't get why it's "rude". Sure, some years ago it was a flashy thing to have. But now there are 40 million cellphones in Britian, and 60 million inhabitants. It's no longer "cool" to owna mobile phone (unless you are 11 years old)<BR><BR>Cheers,<BR>RHM.

Tony Hughes

Nothing wrong with cellphones per se, I have one (which I keep switched off mainl, and yes I know that defeats the purpose of it). It's the raising of one's voice intentionally and for no reason that annoys me. When I speak on any phone, I never have to shout or talk loudly, and so I conclude it is a 'sign' from people to anyone in the vicinity saying 'Hey, look at me, aren't I great and more successful than you as I'm on a cellphone in the street obviously conducting business, but of course you little people wouldn't know about that, would you?'.<BR><BR>Yeah, that annoys me.

Keith Legg

There's a comedian in the UK - Dom Joly - who sends this up brilliantly with a character who walks around in public with a six foot tall "phone" yelling into it.<BR><BR>I find them really annoying, except when you happen to overhear one side of a domestic / lovers tiff - anyone stupid enough to make one of those phone calls in public deserves to have their conversation overheard!

xxx

Having read some of these answers I´d just like to say that: Please people, don´t ever make the mistake of going to Finland. There 80 % of the people have cell phones (and that means ALL the people, infants included). You seem to come from some place where cellphone is something special. There it is more common than a regular phone.

TryTokyo

If you think London is "bad" try Tokyo,<BR>you can even send live video via a mobile there.

xx

But in Tokyo- you also have the polite quiet people sitting and test messaging on the mobiles, unlike the US where they must scream into theirs.<BR>Even London, 7 years ago, everywhere you looked, people were walking on the streets,talking into mobiles,you could see them but did not have to hear them!

x

sorry "TEXT messaging

Ruth

Probably an urban legend - but has an unfortunate ring of truth:<BR><BR>Man is sitting on a train having a lound and irritating conversation on his mobile phone. Other passengers suffer in silence. Then a woman goes into labour and her husband asks if he can borrow the phone to alert the hospital and emergency services. Man admits he has been talking into a bar of chocolate, and doesn't have a phone.

Buzz

Sorry if I came off as rude, earlier, it just seems that someone is always willing to jump down someone else's throat on this site lately and I'm sure that some interesting posts are left off by people who don't want their motives questioned. As it turns out, I was right, it is an interesting thread, eh?<BR><BR>By the by, I've carried a cell phone for years. It is for business/personal emergencies ONLY. If I forget to turn it off in public and it rings, I just reach down and shut the power down. I think most of us who have cellular phones also have caller I.D. and voice mail and I can return the call later...in private.

Tony Hughes

Urban Myth *2. Eccentric, English Boxer Chris Eubank, at the height of his fame in the early/mid 90's, walks in to a bar in Brighton talking loudly into his cellphone, hoping everyone notices. In the middle of him doing this, it rings.

katja

As someone already so "kindly" mentioned, here in Finland the majority of people have a cell phone. I personally don´t even own any other kind of phone, because it got too expensive (believe it or not) an inutile to have a normal phone. Because most of the population has one, it is not special to own one and therefore people do not show off with their mobiles. We also get these kind of complaints in the media about people speaking on cell phones in public places. I personally cannot see the difference in conversations between two people in a bus (for instance) and someone talking to a cell phone. Shouting to one is a different case.<BR><BR>It is very true that there are people around who do not have the common sense for instance to switch off the phone in opera, movies, restaurants etc., but I think it is seen here that people are learning. There are so many advantages in using cell phones that they already overcome the drawbacks. <BR><BR>By the way Rachel, why did not you (or anyone else) say (politely) to the woman testing the ring tones that it was disturbing and would she please stop? I have done that and it seemed that the person in question just did not realise how distrubing it was for others. One time a boy (around 15 years) sitting next to me in a movie theatre answered his phone and was speaking to it when I asked him (again politely) to please hang up. And he did, looking embarrassed and regretful. Sometimes the bad looks just aren´t enough and people need a strangers straight opinion to enlighten them. Being rude back is not helping anyone.<BR>

Philip

Possible Urban myth #3 (it may be true but I can't find anyone that was actually there):<BR><BR>Actress-singer Patti LuPone was putting on a concert. A cell phone rang in the audience. Patti stopped the concert and said something to the effect of: "Go ahead, answer it. We'll wait"