uccxmgm@unx2.ucc.okstate.edu (03/19/91)
While I've been reading this news group, I've seen lots of
references to "cocots" They are obviously independently owned
payphones, but what does the acronym "cocot" actually stand for?
Enquiring minds want to know. I read this news group through a
speech synthesizer and the acronym comes through sounding much like a
popular Spanish obscenity. From the horror stories about these
monuments to human avarice, the similarity is quite amusing.
[Moderator's Note: Its that old standby question again, folks! I
answer this in mail a couple times a week at least, but now and then
put one in the Digest for folks who would like to know but don't write:
<C>ustomer <O>wned <C>oin <O>perated <T>elephone. The first two words
are frequently interchanged with the third and fourth word, as in Coin
Operated Customer Owned Telephone. Is there an 'official' way to say
it? PAT] john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (03/21/91)
On Mar 19 at 1:02, TELECOM Moderator writes: > Is there an 'official' way to say it? PAT] There are plenty of unofficial ways to say it but this is a family program. You might be interested to know that in California, when these things first sprouted, we called them COPTs (Customer Owned Pay Telephones). This is how they are still referenced in PUC documents. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: To assist our visually handicapped reader who first raised this question this time around, that is C O P T (hopefully your vox said the letters rather than trying to pronounce them as a word). And yes, there are indeed many names for those foul, unnatural devices. :) A mild epithet might be 'payphones from hell'. :) PAT]