Who came up with?

[84porsche]

We use and say so many common items/phrases in our language and I would like a place to post them or to question them.

1) Please hold!! (Used when you are on the phone talking to someone.) How did this start??

[tabs]

Probably by a secratary or switch board operator...when they first could push a button and put you on hold.

[84porsche]

I guess I was curious if they actually held on to something or do they want you to hold on to the phone or something else?

[Icemaster]

Comes from "hold the line...". Back when 'ol Mabel used to make the connections in the CO. The clicking and rattling noises sometimes had people thinking that they'd dropped the connection so they'd hang up and try again while Mabel was still pulling jacks.

Or so an old guy in a bar once told me....

[juanbenae]

what ever happened to the middle part of the original phrase and the question mark at the end? you know the "will you please hold?"

[djmcmath]

Not so much a question anymore. Now it's "Hold (click)," and the "hold" is a little optimistic at a lot of places.