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In The Wire, I noticed there was an attachment on the telephone set. What is it? I encircled it with a polygon.

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    You didn't encircle it: you enpolygonned it! Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 13:12
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    Somehow, I knew what this question was going to be about before I clicked it. Kids these days!
    – JLRishe
    Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 15:16
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    Also, so didn't enpolygon the attachment, you enpolygonned the entire set. Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 19:08
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    @PaulD.Waite Since you mentioned, it is enhexagoned. All shapes are polygons.
    – Farhan
    Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 20:11
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    @Farhan: All polygons are shapes, but not all shapes are polygons (ex. circles) Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 21:02

1 Answer 1

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That is a Shoulder rest. This is to help you hold the phone up to your ear by shrugging your shoulder or tilting your head a bit.

It made a lot more sense before cell phones.

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    And it would make a lot of sense with cell phones as well - I sometime crank my neck to unholy angles trying to keep the phone on the shoulder, and attending children or other octopuses at the same time. Yes I know, there are Bluetooth speakers, loud speakers and whatever - they are always in the other room, or the phone does not want to follow you when on loudspeaker.
    – WoJ
    Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 13:52
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    @WoJ, a permanently attached shoulder rest would make the cell phone rather unwieldy to carry around. A detachable shoulder rest would be in the other room when you need it.
    – user9103
    Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 14:03
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    Still makes sense in office settings, about the only place where corded land-line phones are still commonplace. Though operators who use the phone all the time are more likely to have a headset of some kind, it does kind of make sense for secretarial type work where the phone is used often but not constantly. Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 14:47
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    @NuclearWang - One of these plus one of these? ;-) Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 16:34
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    @EikePierstorff I have glorious fun with the "computer has a virus" scammers. I tell them the phone cord is not long enough to reach the computer. Which is true. It ties them up in knots! They cannot figure out what to do with that scenario. Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 19:00

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