Boomer Phone Terms Your Kids Will Never Understand I came across an article that really made me think. Would my son ever know what it was like to need to stretch a phone cord long enough so he could take a call in another room, or hide in a closet so no one would hear him have whatever conversations that he needed to keep private, private? Wow. Have things changed in a few short years. Before I say, "back in my day" let's think about this. Do you hang up a phone? Like take a receiver and put it in to the cradle? If you use a landline, also known as an actual phone, you will still be doing the hanging up (not end call) and many of the other terms listed here.