"It's like having 555 for a phone number."
"Why does everyone's phone number begin with 555?"
— Nancy Drew, Nancy Drew
"The business died and I lost $200,000, Brian. Wanna know why? "555" means it is not an actual phone number. I TRULY wish I had known that."
— Peter Griffin, Family Guy
"Its name is 555-5555. It's hard to remember, because I keep forgetting the 5."
— Junie B. Jones, on her friend Grace's phone number
"555 phone numbers are the speed bumps of fiction. There you are, driving your metaphorical reading-car (or your word wheels, as you call the car when you’re feeling particularly synecdochic), accelerating along Alliteration Avenue. But don’t get too comfy in the driver’s seat of that leased ’94 Kia, pal. Because you’re about to get forcefully unimmersed from your literary experience by that patently fake phone number. Bam. Hope you didn’t get belletristic whiplash when your all-terrain metaphor lurched over those three fives. You wanted to be engaged with the flow of the narrative? Too fucking bad, chump. The engagement’s off. The groom ran off with his manicurist and left you holding the ring. The same kind of ring that you’d get if you tried calling a 555 number. i.e. none."
— Dirk Strider, Pony Pals: Dirk Strider Edition
"555...Wait a minute! 555, that's one of those fake telephone numbers!"
— Jimmy James, NewsRadio
"Hey guys, a girl gave me her number! What area code starts with 555?"
—Jim, Girls with Slingshots
