British Slang For Telephone (8 Examples!)

Phones are something which all now use more than ever.

Every single day we have phones on us constantly, and even for more than a century now, phones have been one of the main ways people have communicated with one another across distances.

Unsurprisingly, then, that tends to spawn a great deal of slang—and this is true in Britain as it is anywhere else.

Let’s look at some slang terms for the telephone.

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Bell

First up we have bell, which can be used in a couple of different ways.

On the one hand, it mostly refers to telephone calls themselves.

“Can you bell me in five minutes?” for example.

However, on the other hand, it can also just mean one’s phone. “Have you seen my bell anywhere?” It can mean either one.

In terms of its origin, we aren’t completely sure, but there are plainly a couple of options.

On the one hand, it’s most likely a simple reference to the way that a phone rings a bell when you are being called.

On the other hand, it may be a reference to Alexander Graham Bell, the supposed inventor of the telephone.

We aren’t completely sure, but we can see it’s been in use since at least the 1950s.

Blower

Next we have blower, which is a common slang term in Britain used to refer to the phone itself.

There is no confusion this time—the blower is the phone, and not the act of receiving or making a phone call.

You use a blower, you don’t make a blower. “I’ll get him on the blower in a minute,” for example.

It was originally a colloquial term for the speaking tube, a device you might have in buildings and homes which allows people to converse through a long tube.

This was recorded around 1922, and eventually, the term came to mean just any telephone.

Dog and bone

Dog and bone is one that may have you scratching your head a bit if you’ve never heard of Cockney rhyming slang.

After all, why should a dog and bone be anything like a phone?

Well, it’s all in the sounds!

Dog and bone is a phone because the two rhyme, and this is the principle of Cockney rhyming slang.

You replace the true word with a word or phrase that rhymes, such as “apples and pears” for stairs.

“Oh, hang on, the dog and bone’s ringing,” for example.

This one is attested by the middle of the 20^th Century, so it may predate that by some time.

Tinkle

Tinkle is another great British slang term for a phone, although it can have one other meaning (to pee), so be careful!

In any case, a tinkle is another example of a term where it can mean both the act of making a phone call and the phone itself.

“Give me a tinkle in an hour or so,” for example.

This would be one way of using it. “I’ll just grab my tinkle and we can go out,” for example, where it would just mean phone.

It again relates to the fact that old telephones would have bells inside them that would “tinkle” when someone called you.

It seems to predate 1960, but more than that about its origin we really cannot say.

Horn

Horn is another one which is widely used across Britain, and will be generally quite well understood by just about anyone.

It refers to the phone itself in the majority of cases.

“Go inside and get Mary on the horn,” for example.

This one, unsurprisingly, is closely related to the term “blower”.

This one, though, comes from naval slang for the speaking tube, as opposed to general slang.

They would call it a horn perhaps due to the military settings of the surroundings.

Alexander

Alexander might be another head-scratcher for the first moment or so, until you remember the name of the inventor of the telephone—Alexander Graham Bell.

While there is some disagreement on whether he really invented the telephone, that is the popular perception.

Thus, in Britain, Alexander became slang for phone.

“The Alexander’s ringing,” for example.

This practice originated long after Graham Bell’s death, though we can’t say for sure when it started being used.

We have, however, no attested uses of it before 1910.

Brick

Brick is among the more recent slang terms for telephone, as you can probably guess.

Old telephones for the most part did not look like bricks—except those earliest mobile phones.

Today, a brick refers to the shape and size of smartphones, and even in the past only referred to larger mobile phones of any kind.

“This phone is an absolute brick,” for example.

We don’t really know for sure when this one came into use, although it seems to have plainly happened in the last two decades or so.

Cell

Finally, we have another more recent one—cell. While this is considered more of an Americanism, it’s for this very reason that it’s become slang in Britain.

It’s a sort of ironic Americanism which British slang often likes to employ. “Can you grab my cell?” for instance.

It simply comes from the word “cell phone”—it’s a shortening of that, and not much more!

There are plenty of ways to refer to a telephone in British slang, then.

Unsurprisingly, most slang terms today tend to relate to mobile phones, and that does have a significant impact on the types of slang that arises.

That said, a great many of the older slang terms for fixed and landline phones carried over to the mobile age, and that is also plain to see.

More in British Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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