YOU CAN STILL BUY ROTARY PHONES. I wonder if they come with how-to-dial tutorial videos for today’s youth? I’ll bet they’re not up to classic Western Electric standards, though.

UPDATE: Hey, no fair — closer inspection reveals that they’re faux rotaries, with push buttons not real dials. This reminds me of an interesting question: In the old days, you could pulse-dial a phone by clicking the receiver hooks up and down — 3 times for a 3, 10 times for an 0, etc. — but can you do that anymore? Assuming you’ve got a phone with a hook, that is, and not a “talk” button.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Craig Forrest writes: “You can still buy western electric rotaries…I have two and my kids love them! Boldoldphones.com.”

And reader Clifford Grout writes: “Our current home had a 60’s rotary wall phone in the kitchen when we bought it, and we have kept it for – I must be honest here – purely comedic reasons: It gives my wife and myself no end of amusement watching our kid’s friends trying to make a phone call. Never fails – they put their fingers in the holes, press as hard as they can…”