Don’t Use Periods in Your Phone Number
Please please please understand that your phone number does not look like this:
415.555.1212
The use of periods in people’s phone number started during the Dot Com boom of 1999. People wanted their phone numbers to look more “internety”. By replacing the parenthesis and dashes with periods, your phone number resembles an IP address. But it isn’t.
It was a cute fad. But now more than ten years later, when you use dots in your phone number, you demonstrate that you do not know the difference between a phone number and IP address. It’s like writing the word “interweb” on your business card. It makes you look dumb.
The accepted ways of writing a phone number are:
(415) 555-1212 or 415-555-1212.
I prefer the latter because it uses fewer characters and the idea of an area code, the thing specified inside the parenthesis, isn’t important for many areas any more. In many urban areas there are overlapping area codes so you must dial all 10 digits. Simply put, a phone number used to be 7 digits long but now it is 10 digits long. But don’t be distracted by this last point. Just know: don’t use periods in your phone number. It makes you look like a Luddite.
I was gonna say I thought it was a European thing but it looks like they mostly use spaces in their phone numbers
I don’t concur. I.like.periods.cuz.I.am.a.girl.
I should note that this discussion only really pertains to U.S. phone numbers. The rest of the world has different expectations as far as writing phone numbers are concerned.
Oh, dear. I use periods from time to time for phone numbers, the time, and the date, only because it’s at the bottom of the keypad and it’s easier for me to hit the period key with my right hand than reach up above to the right or in the center for the dash or slash.
I ARE NOT DUM! :D
[posted at 4.46pm 10.26.11]
xo
Noooo, not the colon! And the slash?! Don’t replace these beloved punctuation marks with the lowly dot! All will be lost!
Dots are also mathematical notation for multiplication. Do the calculation for your phone number and just give em the sum.
Call me at: 2,510,451,874
An argument could be made that it looks a little graphically cleaner maybe. Really, is mixing up phone numbers and ip addresses an actual issue that one encounters? Have you looked at somebody’s business card and seen a phone number in that format and typed it into a browser as an ip address cause it had periods? :)
Argue all you want, I think they don’t look right.
>Have you looked at somebody’s business card and seen a phone number in
>that format and typed it into a browser as an ip address cause it had periods?
When I see it, I think “Hmm, an IP add.. oh no, a phone number in a funny format. Poser.” Sure, I can read it, JUST THE SAME, YOU CAN READ THIS ALL-CAPS TEXT. AM I YELLING? IS MY CAPS-LOCK STUCK? AM I TOO DUMB TO USE LOWER CASE?
I suppose, if you are really that cool, using dots in your phone number adds to the coolness. But… mmmmmmmm…
Style guides mostly agree, dots are for posers.
Actually, this history for the onset of using dots versus dashes in telephone numbers is not wholly correct. The habit of supplanting dots in place of dashes was very largely also due to Microsoft Word being very poor at typography. To this very day Microsoft Word still lacks automated formatting to recgonize that the dash when set between numbers should NEVER wrap between lines (just as decimal numbers should not).
There does exist a non-breaking hyphen in computer character sets. On the Mac to use a non-breaking hyphen is easy. Even on the now extinct Amiga 2000 it was easy. But when using Word it was not easy at all. And yet still today Word makes it hard.
Thus did AMATEUR typogrophers begin to imploy the non-breaking period in place of the normally breaking hyphen. They began doing this ONLY because they knew not how to make Microsoft Word stop being stupid with a hyphen set between numbers. So instead of Microsoft fixing the error inside of Word, millions of people had to change the way they type out telephone numbers. Typical, yes?
Gan, that’s a completely fascinating and hilarious reason! Thank you!
I had never really considered the importance of using a non-breaking hyphen for a phone number. I see that I can make a non-breaking hyphen by typing CTRL+SHIFT+HYPHEN. Cool!
Honestly, i think it looks much cleaner on business cards and other publications. I prefer it and that is my only reason for using it. When I see it used I think it looks much better, but that is just my opinion. I’m not sure why anyone would look at it and think that the user is dumb. I think that is dumb. ;)
Since I don’t want any confusion of a phone number being mistaken for an IP I’ll start writing it like this. 415*555*1212 :) Since I’m a girl I like the feminine touch. :D
Hi, you don’t know me. I was pointed here rather recently by a link in Facebook.
As I said there, I love being told I’m both wrong and stupid by someone who’s severely underestimated my abilities.
Did you write this in response to being embarrassed by mistaking a period-formatted telephone number for an IP address?
That WOULD be embarrassing.
Mary D, I like the stars!
Malcolm, I think you missed my initial point about the similarity between “dotted” phone numbers and IP addresses.
I’ve always preferred periods because it makes for a cleaner look and easier to read number and is more in keeping with a contemporary design. And as you point out, in a major metro area with 10 digit dialing the parentheses aren’t really appropriate anyway because those digits aren’t assumed. I don’t read it as someone trying to make their phone number look like an internet address, just modern. I think the blank spaces is a good look as well. To each their own, I guess.
I found this in a search for someone with reason to argue a point of style at my office. There is a new format for our email signatures and they insist on the periods between the numbers, to which I have always turned up my nose! It looks terrible and is incorrect. As incorrect as putting a period after “Ms” like Ms. – which indicates that Ms is an abbreviation for something – which it is not. Unless, it’s an abbreviation for Missus but we already have one; Mrs. But I digress. Lee, I completely agree that people who write their phone numbers separated by periods look dumb! It’s not cute. I do not want to be forced to put periods into my phone number in my email signature and look like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing or I’m doing something stupid because it’s fashionable or in style right now. However, I need something more concrete in an argument against it. Do you have any references for your theory on it starting with the dot.com movement?
Thanks!
Hi Melissa, sorry but I can’t find any original references right now to when people started using periods in phone numbers. I remember it from personal experience.
I think quoting style guides is a good way to start. How can anyone take a business seriously if they don’t know how to spell the Engrish?! I mentioned up above the take that a lot of manuals of style have on this subject. I think starting there is good.
And if we could get people like Grammer Girl to say something, we’d really be on track.
I don’t like the periods in phone numbers for this one reason:
Various Apps will not recognize it as a phone number and not tell my phone I want to call that number.
Periods = laziness. Pure and simple. You are also as Gina points out making your number a huge PITA for someone who needs to use it for data entry etc. They now have to retype it adding the dashes in between. It drives me bonkers having to fix that on a regular basis. Stop be so lazy.
Also stop adding the parentheses as well. The 10 digit phone number is here to stay so putting (xxx) xxx-xxxx makes zero sense anymore. Just put xxx-xxx-xxxx
There is no need of a period between numbers because we never type it when dialing. Ya! we can separate the numbers by space only when preparing any document.
Thank you @Annoyed (and @Charlotte, ROTFL!)
The reason dots are in IP addresses are because engineers are lazy – it’s about the keypad. The reason dots are in phone numbers is because someone at AOL thought they were cool ‘cuz hey, they were internetty. Yes, AOL. Sorry @Ellen, “contemporary design” does not mean something from 1999.
BTW, dots in dates are just plain wrong. Unless you are doing a poster for a band. Then have your day and play with your design all you want. But (my other pet peeve) good graphic (paper) design does not mean good digital (interactive) design.
Hi — I find it difficult to believe it was fashionable because people were so enthralled by the IP address they wanted to make their phone numbers look like IPs.
The Microsoft Word explanation sounds more plausible, however, as I’ve been using computers since I was a kid, and have been IT though out my career and an avid artist, I think it is the clean look of it, and the fact that it is popular in some European countries. I often see friends from Europe use periods as well as friends who have spent a lot of time there. When I saw it first, it was from European friends. I saw it and thought it looked so much better than dashes, I started using it, and in no way ever even imagined some idiot might think it was an IP address, really? How many people in the US, even today, know how to properly use an IP address?
Anyway, I find your explanation and consequent shaming of people a bit ludicrous. Maybe it is a snooty way to seem more European, I can accept that, and perhaps it shouldn’t be done since the standard US format is not periods, I can accept that, but the IP thing, sorry, just don’t buy it. I’m in IT and most non-IT people don’t have the first clue what an IP address is.
Thanks,
Dana
I cannot stand for these Americanisms that start off as “cute” or trendy and become accepted practices. Come on people, stop creating your own rules. When I see a business whose cards include periods in the phone number, I am skeptical about starting business with said company. I get the, “stand up for what you believe in” mantra but with SO many problems currently in this world, periods in the phone number is the best that we can solve with our creative juices? Focus your collective energy on something bigger and stick with 214-748-3648.
I found out this morning that some smart phones do not recognize dotted phone numbers and will not link to a phone call unless the number contains hyphens.
The following companies use dashes and not dots. ATT, Apple, Google, Samsung, Motorola, Verizon, Sprint & any other companies that realize that dots look ridiculous.
Why you see periods in phone numbers is the period is a valid character to dial a phone or modem. The dash and parenthesis are not valid dialing string characters.
So they did it not to be cute or internetty, they did it to be technically correct.
You don’t use periods or dashes when dialing a phone or modem, you use numbers and thats it but try using periods in a softphone app or other dialing applications – the periods don’t work the dashes do. So no copy/paste with periods but dashes work. The quicker way is to use only numbers but no one uses that format. Use what all the phone service providers use, a dash not a period.
Proper format for U.S. telephone numbers
I keep seeing numbers on web sites and business cards in this format: 770.321.4567. Well I have been in the telecommunications business for over 40 years and can assure you that this number is absolutely NOT a properly formatted phone number within North America. This is due to the fact that dots or periods are NOT allowed in phone numbers. A number such as 392.268.9123 may be part of an IPv6 address, a product part number, an amount of currency in Europe or something else but it’s not a phone number. And no, it doesn’t look cute. I’m sorry, it’s simply incorrect. Frequently dots are used by someone who’s inexperienced or by an IT web designer who thought it looked cool. He’s wrong! And if he doesn’t know how to properly write a simple phone number, odds are, he will make many more mistakes. Move on to the next person. In addition, the dotted phone number will not be recognized as a phone number in many web browsers and software applications, meaning you won’t be able to click on it to place a call nor will you be able to migrate it to your contacts list.
Only two formats exist that are acceptable in the United States. They are (770) 321-4567 and 770-321-4567. I’m sure you’re a smart individual and I certainly don’t want you to appear unprofessional or unknowledgeable to any of your peers. Therefore, please refrain from using improper formats of numbers which may portray you as uninformed or a foreigner from outside of the US. I’ve enclosed proper formats for numbers below so that you will appear to be the well-informed individual.
Proper formats for various numbers are shown below:
14228-2514 is a zip code (NOT 1422-82.514)
228-54-2356 is a social security number (NOT 22.85,42-356)
$67,254.28 is an amount of US currency (NOT #672;54,28$)
12-25-18 or 12-25-2018 are dates in proper US format (i.e. MM-DD-YY) (NOT 12:18:11 which is Hr,mm,ss)
12/25/18 is a date in another type of US format (i.e. MM/DD/YY) (NOT 12.18.11 which is unrecognizable)
In North America, if you wish to include the country code, the proper formats are 1 (716) 234-5678 and 1-716-234-5678.
@67,823,28.685 is NOT a phone number and neither is 678.232.8685. In Europe, these dots indicate this is currency.
I think you get the idea! A number is ONLY easily recognizable in its proper format.
Sometimes little things like this can be the difference between you and your company landing that next big contract or missing out. I realize this formatting of a phone number seems like something quite insignificant but it’s amazing what another person will notice while reading a document. So please double check your work for any spelling errors or formatting errors before you print or publish something. Thanks for reading this and I’m glad I could help you out.
Daniel K. AEE, BSEE, MSIT, etc.
DDK { over 40 years of telephone and telecommunications experience }
P.S. For the few of you that think I went overboard in my past letter, please read on…
Each of us will make thousands and thousands of mistakes in our lifetime. Is it better that we ignore another’s mistake for fear of hurting one’s feelings and allow that person to make the same mistake a hundred more times? I think not! I would much rather someone corrects me the first time I make an error so I don’t make the same error again. I once had a professor say to me, “When do you learn? You learn from your mistakes and learning is a good thing, right?” He was right, we are always learning. I’m glad when someone takes the time to explain something to me. It makes me realize they care about me. Also, think about it, if I gave you my email address as John Smith at yahoo:com you would know it’s wrong and may question my abilities. You would expect to see a standard email format. Taking that extra moment to double check things will depict you as the master of your profession. Now go out and have a great day!
Thank you for using the proper North American and U.S. formats for a telephone number.
As we now know, only two formats exist that are acceptable in the United States. They are (716) 321-4567 and 716-321-4567
~~~ Thank you!
Wow Daniel K. You feel very strongly about this. Seems a pretty trivial things to feel so strongly about… I’m gonna go ahead and use 888.555.2746 all day long and my phone and your computer will pick up on it just fine. Let loose. Embrace the period. It’s all ok.