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.
