phone paralysis

The complete inability to think or speak that some people get when their phone call is answered by someone other than the person they tried to ring.

They seem so stunned by the fact that someone they called might momentarily be away from their desk, that they had never thought of a way to deal with such an eventuality.

John's colleague: "Hello, John Smith's phone.................Hello?

Caller: "......er, hi.......er........is John not there?...."

John's colleague: "No, he's not about right now, can I take a message or something?"

Caller: "Er....er....yeah, can you ask him to call James at Acme? He's got my number"

John's colleague: "Will do, thanks.........(hangs up).....Jeez that dude had real phone paralysis!

by Urban Englander June 20, 2009

Phone savy

Knowing more about a phone then you let on

You kids think I’m so dumb when I’m actually phone savy

by Dxja_vu January 18, 2019

Phone Caroling

The act of people calling their friends around Christmas time and singing holiday songs to each other.

Hey Im gonna call you later with a bunch of other people- were going phone caroling.

by chamberofsecretshasbeenopened December 24, 2010

shake your phone

Engaging a search engine on one’s phone to find information.

Hey, can you shake your phone to get movies times?

by Anew_ March 18, 2019

"dark ages"-inquiry phone call

Refers to da "shout-out" phone call dat you make to one or more local homes/businesses during a power-outage, to ask if they are without electricity, also ("Are you folks in da Dark Ages, as well?"); this allows you to reliably determine if it is indeed a widespread outage, rather than it's being "just you" (i.e., where you would need to check your home's wiring/fuse-box for unseen faulty connections).

During an unexpected power-outage, most folks will likely be at least marginally patient/understanding if you want to check wif dem about whether their electricity is off, as well, but you should still consider carefully before making said call --- usually you will want to do so only if da current weather is fairly "calm 'n' balmy" and therefore a utilities-outage would not be expected. It is generally understood dat service-wires might be downed if there is heavy snow/wind, and so in these cases your "dark ages"-inquiry phone call might be viewed as somewhat of an unnecessary/frivolous interruption, especially since those other folks will themselves probably be experiencing moderate difficulties/concerns regarding said hiccup in da flow of "angry pixies", and so at da time they may be feverishly scrambling to "batten down da hatches" while waiting for da power to come back on again. Good luck trying to call anyone, though, since nowadays da phone and electricity are no longer such "entirely separate circuits" as they used to be, and so unless it's an extremely small and "localized" outage, your home-phone service will likely be out, also, if da electricity is off. Dat's an instance where mobile phones can be an alternative means of communication, since most cellular-towers have their own "dedicated" power-source dat will remain active even if da "regular" electricity is off.

by QuacksO March 19, 2019

Cell phone rummaging

When a sexual partner goes rooting around through your phone looking for shit to get pissed off at you about.

Be it contact with a friend they don't like or a past encounter your trying to catch up with.

Maggie: Why's Georgio pissed at you?
Susan: I left my phone at his place.
Maggie: Did that dumb ass go cell phone rummaging again?
Susan: Yes! and I was talking with my ex Troy about completely innocent things.

by ballsinthewind June 23, 2010

Phone Fucker

When someone calls boss to switch jobs with you.

Rich. called the dispatcher to switch the trains so he had the best one. Rich is now known as a phone fucker.

by The real randy April 14, 2024