The grades 1-12 school attended was on a party line and the exchange was in a town of about 350 people. The telephone number was something like 101 ring 3. We cranked the magneto on the phone to signal the operator. After we reached the operator we usually didn’t, have to give the phone number. We just told her who we wanted to talk with. Unfortunately, our home phone was on a different exchange and we had dial service. It cost a dime if I needed to call home from school. We had a 5 digit phone number, although our neighbors only had a,four digit number. Now I have voice recognition on my smart phone which is a complicated way of doing what was done in the 1950s by the operator on the old phone system at our school.
On car ads from the 1950s here are some of the slogans: There is,a Ford in your future (Ford); When better cars are built, Buick will build them (Buick); Ask the man who owns one,(Packard); Plymouth builds great cars (Plymouth); Dollar for dollar, you can"t beat a Pontiac (Pontiac). There may be other slogans from the advertisements from the 1950s, but I have forgotten them.
Yeah I remember those terms from Ford so no spelling error.
Yeah, our prefix used to be “Edison”, then changed to 334 for many years, then had to add 332 when more numbers were needed. I have no recollection of how you called long distance except guess you just dialed “0” for operator and gave “her” (yes they were all female) the number you wanted. Mom was a telephone operator at one time with the switch boards.
No government agency is as good at getting information from wiretaps as could be obtained from party lines. I made a date to go to the movies from a different school. A neighbor was listening in on the party line and the next morning, Little Iodine, my girlfriend from my home school knew about it and would no longer talk to me.
So . . .it looks like texting shorthand actually began a long long time ago.
So . . .it looks like texting shorthand actually began a long long time ago.
Texting shorthand has been around since the teletype. U for “You”… R for “Are”…and many others have been around since at least the 20’s.
If you placed a classified ad in the local newspaper to sell your car, you paid by the word, so tudor and fordor saved you money.
Oh the teletype . .After church each Sunday when I was a kid, I’d go with dad to his newpaper office and collect the teletype ribbon from the weekend to get ready for his monday news stories.
The long ribbon with all the holes that was not needed for the small town paper was my toy for the next week 
happy, happy, joy , joy
( I’d also go in the back by the line-o-type machine and play with the lead letter castings they’d save to melt and re-use . .more child hood joy. )
Yep, teletype was my Army specialty. I remember sending the wife a message with the punched holes forming the words. I thought it was creative anyway. Guess you had to be there.
Great discussion thread! The fun and interesting things I learn reading here. Y’all are such a great crew to hang around with when I can make time. Thanks all you regulars for putting up with me all these years I have been reading and commenting. As the true non-mechanical, non-technical regular and the rare female regular, I feel truly privileged you all have welcomed me to be part of what I recognize is rather a guys club of sorts. I always try to respect boundaries and take in good humor the occasional discreet swat down I earn. Making time to read here is always a refreshing experience. …still reading, still learning!
Bing, in that era I was programming a PDP-8 using a teletype for IO.
My English teacher back in the early 60’s had a class on this very subject
She told us not to pay attention to the spelling in ads like “nite” and “donuts.” Those words are spelled that way just to attract attention which is the main focus of ads anyway. Tudor and Fordor for are just examples of that philosopy.
Bing, in that era I was programming a PDP-8 using a teletype for IO.
My very first programming I did was on a PDP-8L. Teletype and paper tape to save the program. We didn’t have a disk drive. 4k core memory.
Actually, the term “tudor” goes way back, well before mass communications. Oxford dictionary traces it back to 1485. Merriam Webster describes its first known use at 1779. I haven’t done the research, but I’m guessing the difference is due to the definition being applied to the word.
Fordor I don’t recall being aware of until this very thread. I’m guessing that one was made up by Ford for advertising purposes.
I think you’re right, TSM. FORDor. Get it? 
+1 for Marnet’s comments. While I have a technical background, it isn’t automotive, and I learn a lot reading your responses.
So…the difference between a “Tudor” and a “Fordor” is…"Mordor?"
Sorry…the nerd in me couldn’t resist
@meanjoe You must have graduated from Tulane University, which is likely located on a Four Lane street.
Isn’t Mordor from the “Lord of the Rings”?
Oh geez, back to cars.