Office Phones

If someone (in the US) lists his phone numbers as follows, on a business card:

D: (123) 456-7890 | G: (123) 456-7891 | F: (123) 456-7892

What does that mean?

I presume F means "fax" and D means "direct" (or "daytime"?), but what is G?

Actually, looking at it again, the second number is along the lines of (123) 456-7000. So maybe it goes to a central line or reception desk -- could "G" then be "General" or something like that?

Yeah, I thought it was General too....

What a mess! "General?" It sounds odd to me; I can't imagine anyone using it here in the Midwest, but that may be a regional thing.

A business card should not leave you guessing. If I were an editor working on that card, I would insist on having sufficient information to make clear the distinctions that can't be made here.

A business card should not leave you guessing.

I agree. What is so hard about writing "Fax" instead of "F"? I have already mistakenly dialed the "F" number while calling a local business because I subconsciously thought "Fone", rather than "Fax" when looking at their website and seeing "F:".

"General?" It sounds odd to me

"General" sounds odd to me too! But I can't think of anything else that "G" could mean. Even if the person had a secretary named Gina or George, that would be a weird way of including the secretary on the card.

I have already mistakenly dialed the "F" number while calling a local business because I subconsciously thought "Fone", rather than "Fax"

Good one. Nevertheless, cards with "T: (123) 456-7890 | F: (123) 456-7891" would be widely understood, right?

Yes, T and F would mean telephone and fax to me. I still find it difficult to fathom why people can't use a few more letters to make things clear: Tel and Fax don't take up much more space, even less if in lower-case letters as tel and fax.

Most of us don't realize how much jargon we use in our everyday lives, or how many terms we use that although not jargon may not be generally understood. We may define things in terms that themselves are not understood by our audience. In this case, my first thought on seeing the G in your OP was "ground line?" but then I realized that the term for a hard-wired phone, that is, one connected through the wall, rather than being cordless and portable, is usually "land line."

I'd be interested to know what that G does mean!

Well, Google shows that the number following the G is indeed the general/central number for the entire office. Still mysterious.

Why is it mysterious? Instead of a direct/private (OK, maybe not private) number, it's the general line, imho....

I wouldn't have had a clue what 'gG' meant. In the absence of any other number I would probably have tried the G number and just hoped it was an office or central line. I don't think I would have even thought of the word 'general' in this context.

My business card has Direct Dial and mobile numbers. At the bottom of the card there is a general business address which includes the office and fax number for the main office number.

At my work we have a teeny tiny bit of leeway with the text. My card used to have DDI but I changed it to Direct Dial because I found some people didn't know what DDI meant. I am rather surprised at that (here) but there you go.

I also am in two minds about whether I preferred 'mobile' or 'cell'. I call it a cell phone but as 'mobile' was far more common I stuck with that.

You want confusing - my father's old business card used to have DDI, DDI Anytime, Office, Tollfree, office fax, cell, home phone, home fax. It also had his secretary's contact phone number on it. It was ridiculous. It was like he was handing out cards with simply little lists on them. This was before emails were particularly common, although he did have his personal email and the office website on it as well.

Edited by: sneaker_fish

I'll bet it is a smooged C for Cell.

I'll bet it is a smooged C for Cell.

Nope. What I have is actually a digital copy, and it's a G. (And, as I said earlier, it's the number of the whole business, not the person's cell phone.)

#9 -- Is DDI New-Zealish?

I didn't know but just did a search on wiki and this came up indicating it is in use in Europe (parts of?) and Australasia.

Interesting link. Here in the United States, we called it DID, for direct inward dialing, although I don't think the term is in use anymore.

It's pretty common to refer to it here as either your 'DDI' (said quickly so the word is deedy - eye) or simply 'direct dial'.

ofcourse there is no real DIALING anymore.
or is it?

DID is common in South East Asia. Certainly not G.

ofcourse there is no real DIALING anymore

you have a very good point!!