July 28, 2005
DisTones - unfriendly greetings assigned to callers you want to avoid
Forbes, in an article on new technologies and rudeness in America, mentions a category of ringtones I had never heard of before; DisTones, coined (I think - nothing related comes up in a Google Search) by a company which sells ring tones called Moderati. What are DisTones? "DisTones are a rather unfriendly greeting users assign to callers they want to avoid".
"Moderati claims that "nothing says 'I hate you' like a DisTone."
Some, uh, titles available: American Idiot, Shut Up, F.U. Right Back', The @$$hole Is Calling or $#!*head On The Phone which, according to Moderati, beat out new singles from Fat Joe, the Bravery and Coldplay in terms of total downloads in a single day.
On Moderati's DisTones page, they recommend something even better than a DisTone, the silent ringtone, which effectively shuts down callers by sending them to voice mail without you even having to acknowledge the call. Nice.
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