telling bone

English

Etymology

A Hobson-Jobson based on interpreting telephone as telling + bone; coined by British screenwriter Richard Carpenter for the TV series Catweazle.

Noun

telling bone (plural telling bones)

  1. (humorous, preceded by definite article) The telephone.
    • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 134:
      His eyes widened. The box contained the Divine Egg! The strange sorcerer who was muttering into the telling-bone had found lots of them.
    • 1985 May 12, The Canberra Times, page 22, column 1:
      Lately, Fergus has been even more insufferable: he's in love, a piece of intelligence I winkled out of the elder curmudgeon, his grandfather, the Laird of Gunning, on the telling bone last night.
    • 1998, The Spectator‎, London:
      When we land I'll give you a tinkle on the telling bone.
    • 2021, John Martin, Different Stripes: The first six quirky novels of the Windy Mountain series‎, John Martin:
      She's visiting her sister in Launceston and I spoke to her on the telling bone last night.
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