Tickey-box days

Not too long ago, before cellphones, we lived in the time of the tickey-box when we depended on these trusty public phones for all our calls away from home.

Many of us remember those times at school hostel or in the army when we clung on to the telephone receiver for dear life, talking to a girlfriend, our parents or trying to sort out some admin matter while a line of frustrated people waited to use the phone, tapping impatiently and pointing to their watches. Or when we were just about to convey an important point or sentiment to someone on the other end of the line and we ran out of coins. In the old phone booths, there was usually a well-paged phonebook chained to a metal shelf and a muggy smell from the absence of fresh air and the many phone users. Some left a wad of chewed gum stuck somewhere, an empty cooldrink can or part of their leftover lunch. If you were lucky, a shiny coin remained from a previous user or would be ejected when you pushed the coin-return button. It was part of life back then, the life and times of the tickey-box.

The phone booths were later replaced with wall-mounted tickey-boxes. These days, you hardly ever come across them in urban areas; Telecom removed them when they became redundant. But every now and then, when I come across one in the rural areas it always puts a smile on my face.

The two most interesting ones I’ve come across in recent years were at Lake Oponono in northern Namibia and at the foot of Brukkaros Mountain in the south. And many years ago, in Rehoboth, I had my funniest tickey-box moment when I noticed a horse rider who had ridden into town and parked his horse next to the phonebox while he made a call. I still have that shot, captured both in photographs and in my memory.

The origin of the word ‘tickey’ isn’t clear, but ‘ticky’ alluding to something ‘small’, was possibly taken from British English. In South Africa the word was used as the nickname for the small silver three-penny coin, and later for the 2½c coin. This was replaced in 1961 by the five-cent coin when decimal currency was introduced and it was withdrawn from circulation. The tickey was once the cost of a payphone call, which gave rise to the name ‘tickey-box’, one which remained in use after the currency had changed and newer coins were accepted. Many terms in both English and Afrikaans with the word ‘tickey’ stem from this time and refer to the diminutive size of something, like ‘two-bricks-and-a-tickey high’ and ‘turn on a tickey’, while the term for the fast-spinning dance ‘tiekiedraai’ was derived from a tickey spun around quickly and a ‘tickey beer’ was a beer produced in Cape Town that cost three pennies (3d).

Back in the day, you could even be fined R45 (or 90 days) for making calls from a public phonebox without paying by using a ‘long tickey’, a coin attached to thread.

When I come across these old phoneboxes today, I am caught by surprise and memories flood back. It makes me realise how the world has changed since then. I can’t help thinking how life was simpler when we were disconnected from a perpetual stream of phonecalls, messages and social media, but were more connected to everything else.

(References: DSAE Dictionary of South African English;

Collins English Dictionary; & Coins of the South African pound – Wikipedia) Can you remember using a tickey or a tickey-box?