1920's Phone Etiquette and Use

Talking directly into the mouthpiece with lips a half inch away, will enable the one to whom you are speaking to get your message without straining to hear you. 

Phone Etiquette Advice is Given

Keenly appreciative of the value of correct telephone usage in newspaper work, the New York Sun is at present running a series of suggestions for telephone etiquette in its popular column entitled ’The Sun's Rays" for the information of readers. Forty-two items have been included to date in the series, a number of which follow: 

Telephone Etiquette 

• The old-fashioned “Hello” when answering the telephone has become obsolete through the modern usage of the name, or telephone number, to identify one's self.
• Placing the receiver on the hook gently prevents making a disagreeable noise in the other party’s ear and eliminates possible damage to the instrument.
• Telephone manners are as important for voice-to-voice courtesy, as face-to-face politeness. 
• “Guess who this is” was never good telephone manners. The modern telephone user establishes his identity immediately. 
• A courteous way to start the day right is with a sincere “Good morning.” 
• Good breeding is revealed quite as much by courteous manners over the telephone as though you were physically present. 
• Talking directly into the mouthpiece with lips a half inch away, will enable the one to whom you are speaking to get your message without straining to hear you. 
• Impatient “jiggling” of the hook to signal the operator does not flash the small lamp on the switchboard. The right and effective way is to move the hook up and down slowly. —Madera Tribune, 1928

Etiquette Enthusiast Maura J Graber is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia