Quoting Phone Numbers

So I was reading THE BEST BLOG ON THE INTERWEBS and it was talking about how people get so used to quoting phone numbers in the US as XXX YYY ZZ-ZZ or XXX YYY ZZZZ for (Area Code) / three digits / last four digits, that you can get confused if you change up the cadence at all.

Well as the Aussies like to say, "Fuck your cadence!"*

All phone numbers are: 0# #### ####

The first digit is the region code. New South Wales is 02, Queensland is 03, etc. All mobiles are 04. If you are calling internationally, you drop the 0, i.e. +614XXXXYYYY.

However, when quoting these numbers, it's all shot to hell. If there are no consecutive digits (two sixes, three sevens, etc.) then you say:

"0### ### ###"

If there is a consecutive repeated digit anywhere in the number, you change it to:

"0## Double X ## ###" or "0# Double X # Double Y ####"

If there is a triple:

"0# Triple X ## ####" or "0# # Triple X Triple Y #"

Quads:

"0# # Double X Double X ####"

And there are special numbers like "13 13 31" which are just quoted like that.

And when calling in territory, i.e. NSW->NSW, you don't even dial the 02. So:

"### Double X ###"

This is so common that when I quote my number the rational way, because it has two sets of doubles, people don't get it. Trying to convert my number into a proper cadence in my head is very hard.

Maybe Aussies are just smarter than we are.


*Not really. I have yet to be cursed out by an Aussie. Still trying.