How do people answer the phone in Britain?

I knew someone who's wife's name was Maggie. So he answered the phone 'Mag's mortuary, you stab 'em, we slab 'em!'

The 4 digit thing is just old-fashioned. Maybe goes back to when operators were used more?

So it's an old fart's thing. Heh heh. I'll be sure and tell him.

I know someone (in the US) who's father (paranoid musician) used to answer the phone "Identify yourself!".  If the person tried to say "Hello" or "Excuse me, but is..." he would cut them off and repeat "Identify yourself!" If they did not give him a name he would hang up on them. Hello high school dating hell!

Maybe you should have just said 'Rusty Shackleford'.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Gribble)

I knew someone who's wife's name was Maggie. So he answered the phone 'Mag's mortuary, you stab 'em, we slab 'em!'

LOL

I don't know why, but when people answer the phone in a weird way when I'm expecting a simple "hello", it stuns me into silence for a moment.

I called Hawaii once and the person answered "Aloha". Right, not weird for them, but weird for a mainlander!!! It threw me off. Then when we were ending the call they said "aloha" again. I was like, "Yeah, uh, bye!"

I hate when a wrong number calls me and immediately asks "Who is this?" Look buddy, you called me! Who do you think it should be!

I just asked my partner if he did do this in the past, he said yes, it is old fashioned.  He says hello now, as do most people I phone here.

Remember in All Creatures Great and Small they used to answer the phone 'Darrowby 457' (or whatever the numbers were!).

I read this and immediately thought "No, it's Darrowby 85" (that's eight-five, not eighty-five).  But why one earth should I think that when I haven't seen the show in 20 years??  Now I don't have any way of knowing whether I'm remembering it right or not...

And yes, my mother-in-law always answers with six numbers and no hello.  My english husband says "Hello this is ...speaking."  I just say hello.

When I was little and just learning to use the phone, my mum taught me to answer by saying, 'Hello, who is it, please?' (I must have been about 5 or 6 at the time). Unfortunately, I didn't quite yet the concept of the commas in the phrase, so for 2 or 3 years, I reeled off 'Hellowhoisitplease?' as fast as possible - I must have scared off half the callers, lol!

I just asked my partner if he did do this in the past, he said yes, it is old fashioned.  He says hello now, as do most people I phone here.

Me too.  DH said they didn't have a phone for several years as they lived in a manor house and the phone belonged to the family.  But when they did get a phone he did answer it with the digit thing because that's all he ever heard his grandmother and older generation say.  Now, it's just "Hello, Alan speaking"

Everyone I've ever spoken to says "hello" when answering the phone.

Answering with the phone number was indeed much more common here in the past, and in fact at one time it was the method recommended by the G.P.O. and printed in the front "blurb" of the phone book.

Apart from being promoted as "good telephone manners" it also served the purpose of allowing coinphone users to hear that they'd reached the right number before pressing button "A" to deposit their money.  Of course, those old phone are long gone now, and the money is gone the second the distant end answers.

When 2, 3, 4 and 5-digit numbers were commonplace it was easy to answer with just the number, or the exchange name and number for the shorter ones (mostly smaller villages).  The 6-digit numbers were a little more of a mouthful, but still possible.

London and the handful of other large cities used 7-digit numbering, but up until the late 1960s the first three digits were dialed as letters representing the exchange name, so it was relatively easy to answer with "MAYfair 1234" or "WATerloo 5678."    The change to All-Figure Numbering made it rather a mouthful to say "629-1234" or "928-5678," so the habit of just using the last four digits became common in these areas.

Some background on this.
At one time almost no one had a telephone (what a statement)
When a person went to the red pay phone "kiosks" they would put in two pence and dial the number and after the other answered with their phone and it was correct then the caller would push button "B". If they didn't get the right number they wouldn't loose their money. I hope I'm clear.
Mrs Buckett would say "hello, this is the Buckett residence the lady of the house speaking"
Thanks everyone for the imput I now know the standard response in the UK. The same as the US.

after the other answered with their phone and it was correct then the caller would push button "B".

You've mixed up the buttons Jim.   The caller pressed button "A" on the front of the unit upon a successful call.  That deposited his coins into the box and allowed the conversation to proceed (until button "A" was pressed the caller could hear the distant end but not vice versa).   If the call was unsuccessful for any reason (busy, no answer, etc.) the caller pressed button "B" on the side of the box which returned his money and released the connection.   Or he could just hang up for a moment leaving the coins in escrow, and then try the call again.



Edited to add:
Extra contacts on the dial allowed calls to be made to the operator (0) and emergency (999) without depositing coins.   There were three slots on the top to accept a penny, sixpence, and shilling.  Like the old three-slot (5, 10, 25 cents) American coinphones, these used bell and gong signals so that the operator could hear the money being deposited for a long-distance call.

I've known quite a few people who answer the phone saying their number.  I just say hello.

DH and all of our friends say "hello?" I know one person who answers with four digits and he's 50-odd, so yes, definitely an old fashioned way of answering. I sort of like it in a weird way.