Why do Americans answer the phone with "Gopher"?
Like for instance someone saying “Gopher John” when answering the phone. What does this mean?
Like for instance someone saying “Gopher John” when answering the phone. What does this mean?
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA, It’s our national rodent and I’ll thank you to take appropriate pride in her. Squeeker squeek.
I think they’re saying “go for John”. I saw it on a movie once and thought “huh” and my buddy Chris did it a couple times, but that’s about all my IRL experience with it.
Starb3an, Never heard it in real life, but have in multiple war/military movies.
Jackcooper, Bone apple tea
Redhotkurt, I'm an American, almost 50 years old, and I have never heard of this before.
kitonthenet, Like most of the Americans here I've never actually heard this irl, I think it's more common in TV and movies, and that's probably because studio bigwig assholes answer the phone like this. Unless you were very familiar with someone this would be an exceptionally rude way to answer the phone
e569668, (edited ) This question has plagued my mind for decades, because the main character of the tv show Eureka, Jack Carter, always answered his radio/phone with this. And to this day I have no idea what words he was saying or why he always said it. I had started to think he was saying "gofer" which is
An employee who runs errands in addition to performing regular duties.
But that seemed a bit weird for the sheriff to say
Deathsservant, “go for”, not gofer. As in “go for Jack”
ApeCavalryArt, We would say, "go for (name)" at work over the handheld radio, never heard of anyone using this on the phone. Sometimes I'd get bored and say "go for Zap Rowsdower" or whatever
cryomancer20x6, The only time I have ever heard this used was “Go for Papa Palpatine.” on Robot Chicken.
Bonnie_Mae, And I’ve habitually called him Papa Palpatine ever since.
rikonium, It’s uncommon, I’ve heard it used every once in a blue moon like Barney Stinson (HIMYM) answering his phone and I haven’t seen a definitive answer other than indicating to the caller that he, Barney, is the one answering the phone.
MedicPigBabySaver, That’s not a thing.
darcy, :(
DarraignTheSane, Pretty sure it’s an old businessman thing. “Go for (my name)!” in a cock-sure tone is pretty much how I would expect any old business hot-shot asshole to answer the phone.
Remmock, It's commonly used when you pick up a radio on a public band.
So if you have a jobsite where there are 100 radios, and someone needs to reach Ted, they'll page the radio and say something like "Hey Ted, do you copy?" and Ted will respond with "Go for Ted," which means yes, Ted is here and he's listening, go ahead.
It was used in a small way some 40 years ago and never really caught on.
emberwit, And what is Ted supposed to copy?
Dyslexic1922, Signifying that he received a good copy of the message
4am, And, if you’ve reached Gopher Ted, you might respond with “Go for Gopher Ted”
Roger, Roger! What’s our vector, Victor?
Tower to radio clearance, over!
That’s Clarance Over!
What? Huh? Who?!?
darcy, ok thank you 😃
Lazylazycat, Ooooh thank you! I’d always wondered about this too.
over_clox, I’m American and I don’t answer my phone.
On the rare occasion I do answer, I respond with “Whatcha want?”
Friends will reveal themselves real quick, scammers will also reveal themselves real quick…
WarmSoda, I feel like OP forgot to add the punchline.
darcy, no punchline
WarmSoda, So you’re not going to explain why you’re asking this weird question?
darcy, theres no stupid questions, right ?
WarmSoda, Context would be nice.
darcy, im not here to educate you
WarmSoda, (edited ) Great attitude you’ve got. Glad you’re here.
So everyone is supposed to educate you, but you’re special?
RanchOnPancakes, You see in the US there are secret underground copies of all of our houses and gopher versions live there.
They are making it clear if you are speaking to John or Gopher John.
Sorry, for real I’ve never heard this before. Can you tell us where you heard it from? I’m really curious now.
SalamiTom, This is the reality I choose to live in.
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