In the good old days we used to say that our chracter "hung up the phone". What do we say in these days of mobile phones. "Hung up" doesn't seem apprpriate. "Terminated the call" sounds a bit clumsy. Any ideas?
'Ended' will perhaps work in most scenarios. Though, it perhaps doesn't quite work - without elaboration - for a call terminated with real gusto/anger. That might require 'cut' or some variation. (That said, the expressions, 'ended the realtionship,' 'I will end you' etc, perhaps indicate that 'ended' in itself carries sufficient weight.)
Many people still use "to dial" when referring to making a call, even though there is no dial on a mobile. I'd be happy using "to hang up". You could go for starting a new trend: "He told me to mind my own business, and hung the call." Instead of: "He told me to mind my own business, and hung up." "To hang up" is an oddity. We have: hang hung hung (picture on the wall) hang hanged hanged (execution) So to kill a call should be: "He told me to mind my own business, and hanged up." Of course, "to hang up" is a phrasal verb with a separate, independent meaning.
In the right context, I've heard 'killed' used successfully, though 'ended' is more common: "She ended the call and put the phone back into her purse."
I agree, people still understand what "hang up" means. However, you could have the character press the "end" button, or if it's a flip phone, close the phone.
I would ask a teenager or an older child. Its possible that their generation has already replaced 'hung up' with something else, and us, old farts, just haven't caught on yet.
yes, i still say 'she hung up on me!'... while 'she ended the call' may be more precise in writing, i doubt many [if any] people would use that in speaking...
Oh, I use it all the time. I walk with both kings and commoners and most of them use it too...and many of the latter are conspicuous for their brutish, not their precise, use of language.
Ending the conversation, she put the phone in her pocket. I think hung up is normal. One time my cell lost connection. The girl called me back. "Seriously? You hung on on me?"
