Want an argument?
(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) MELBOURNE, January 6. A new dial-an-argument service in Melbourne has become an instant success. In fact, it is so popular that the young couple who inaugurated it had to leave their telephone off the hook 18 hours after their first call. The couple, Aiieen and Frank — they refuse to reveal their surnames — first advertised the service in a Melbourne newspaper at the week-end. They received their first argument at 8 a.m. that
day, and for a while they received calls every 10 1 minutes. < 1 At 2 a.m. the following < morning they had had i enough, and took the tele- : phone off the hook. i Aileen, aged 25, a ' teacher with a Monash 1 arts degree, and Frank are manning their private tele- 1 phone as a free service to 1 the public. < “It is an outlet for frustrated people who may be ' finding it hard to give ' expression to their prob- 1 lems while living their 1 community roles,” Aileen said.
“Or they may just feel like the mental stimulation of an argument. Or a bit of fun — like the caller who challenged me to say whether Queen Juliana was as productive as Horace Walpole, who holds the world distance spitting record.” Frank or Aileen try to provide an opposing viewpoint on any subject, from cricket to politics. Aileen, who has no political or philosophical commitments, says that she tries to discuss a problem logically from ail sides. Frank just likes to argue.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19760107.2.98
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34044, 7 January 1976, Page 11
Word Count
250Want an argument? Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34044, 7 January 1976, Page 11
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Acknowledgements
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