Picture this:
You wake up one morning and there's this funny looking thing hanging on your kitchen wall. A friend is there, overseeing the final installation. Your friend tells you the thing is called a telephone. He tells you that the handle you can lift on and off is a receiver, and if you put the back end to your ear you can hear what other people say into it, and if you put the front end to your mouth you can speak to them, and if you manage both at once you can have something very much like a real live conversation.
Who else has these things? you ask. Lots of people, your friend says. You wonder if a friend from work has one. How do I find out if someone else has a telephone? you ask. By calling directory assistance, your friend says. Ok, so how do I do that? you ask. This number your friend already knows - it's always a simple, easily accessible number, like 411. Your friend dials it and in a moment you are talking to someone else on the telephone line, asking about someone's telephone number.
Your friend brings over a pad of paper and a pencil while you wait. Write it down, you'll forget it otherwise, he whispers. Finally the operator comes back on the line and you get your number. You write it down, hang up the receiver, lift it again, and dial the number you just wrote down.
There are millions of people using telephones, your friend tells you. By writing down the numbers you get from directory assistance, you save yourself the time and trouble of calling them back all the time. You just check your phone list, find the number you want, and dial it.
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