> > It's a lot simpler than that -- with respect to phone service, "engaged" means a busy line. "I'm sorry, your party [or 'your party's line'] is engaged," is something an old-fashioned telephone operator might say.
>
> Telephone operators! Hey, I remember those. They always said "Number, please," in the days before dail tones were invented. Most talked through their nose, and after you gave them a number they always said "Think Q." I always sat there thinking Q until someone answered.
> Howard

There are many stories about the time when Finland still had telephone operators. One story is about the time in the late 19th century when the operators switched from the foreign word for "central", "sentraali" to the Finnish word "keskus". One old woman hung up, quite surprised: "Where in the world did I call? They answered 'Kristus'."