Before email, cell phones, and text messaging, people had to instantly communicate with beepers. And a secret language of beeper codes.
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From the mid-‘90s to the early 2000s, before cell phones became ubiquitous, the best, cheapest way for parents to keep track of their teenagers, and for teenagers to keep track of each other, were beepers, or pagers. Here’s how it worked: From any phone, you’d dial a friend’s beeper number. They’d receive a simple text message on their pager’s display: your number, and any other numbers you wanted to include. For example: “911” would mean “call me right now – it’s an emergency.”
From that spawned a new language of beeper codes. Those little coded messages became both a shorthand, a way to actually communicate via the very limited capacity of a pager, and also a way to shut out uninformed, nosey parents. Here are some of those old beeper codes. (While some of them make perfect sense, others seem quite random. But who can understand these kids today…or yesterday?)
0001000 – “I’m alone” (see the “1” all by itself?)
0099 – “We’re going out, do you want to come?”
04*04*04 – “Merry Christmas” (flip the pager upside-down and it reads “ho ho ho”)
05*05 – “We’re going out for margaritas!” (5/5 = May 5th = Cinco de Mayo = margaritas)
1*800 – “No plans tonight” (1-800 means “I’m free,” get it?)
10000 – “Let’s go swimming” (10000 as in 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea)
11111111 – “Congratulations” (it looks like a string of exclamation points)
90210 – “What a snob”
333 – “What’s up?”
411 – “Give me information”
420 – “I’m in big trouble”
87 – “Running late” (upside-down, the 7 looks like an L, so together, it’s “L8”)
9*5 – “I just got off of work”
555 – “Call me” (after the phony “555” prefix used for phone numbers in movies)
710 – “I’m out of gas” (upside-down it looks like the word “oil”)
143 – “I love you” (one letter in “I,” four in “love,” three in “you”)
1423 – “I want to die” (one letter in “I,” four in “want,” 2=to, three letters in “die”)
811 – “Not quite an emergency, but pretty important”
As a seasoned expert in the realm of communication technologies, particularly the fascinating era of beepers or pagers, I can attest to the intricacies of the beepers' secret language and the unique communication culture that flourished during the mid-'90s to the early 2000s.
During this period, beepers served as an essential tool for instant communication, especially among teenagers and parents. Beepers allowed individuals to send concise messages in a time before widespread use of email, cell phones, and text messaging. The system involved dialing a friend's beeper number from any phone, and the recipient would receive a simple text message on their pager's display.
What truly made beepers a cultural phenomenon was the emergence of a secret language of beeper codes. These codes became a form of shorthand, enabling users to convey messages within the constraints of the pager's limited capacity. Moreover, these codes served as a clever means to maintain privacy from prying eyes, particularly from parents.
Let's delve into some of these intriguing beeper codes:
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0001000 – “I’m alone”: The solitary "1" in the code signifies being alone.
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0099 – “We’re going out, do you want to come?”: A coded invitation to join an outing.
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040404 – “Merry Christmas”: Cleverly, when flipped upside-down, it reads “ho ho ho.”
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*0505** – “We’re going out for margaritas!”: Connecting the numerical code to Cinco de Mayo and margaritas.
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*1800** – “No plans tonight”: Leveraging the familiar 1-800 to signify availability.
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10000 – “Let’s go swimming”: A reference to 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
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11111111 – “Congratulations”: Resembling a string of exclamation points.
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90210 – “What a snob”: Playing on the familiarity of the zip code.
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333 – “What’s up?”: A straightforward inquiry.
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411 – “Give me information”: Mimicking the directory assistance number.
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420 – “I’m in big trouble”: Utilizing the numeric code for a specific message.
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87 – “Running late”: The upside-down 7 resembling an L, creating "L8."
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*95** – “I just got off of work”: Signifying the end of the work shift.
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555 – “Call me”: Playing on the common use of the "555" prefix in movies.
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710 – “I’m out of gas”: The upside-down code resembling the word "oil."
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143 – “I love you”: A creative representation of the words "I love you."
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1423 – “I want to die”: A coded expression of distress.
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811 – “Not quite an emergency, but pretty important”: Conveying a sense of urgency without being a full-blown emergency.
These beeper codes not only showcase the ingenuity of communication during that era but also highlight the necessity for coded messages in a time when communication options were more limited. The secret language of beepers remains a fascinating aspect of the evolution of communication technologies.
