SOCIAL CLIMES : You Rang?

Don’t know if you’ve heard, but Angelenos are burning up the phone lines, and they’re not dialing 900-numbers or “Callin’ ya from the car, babe.”

The newest phone game has to do with Pacific Bell’s call return feature. If you catch the phone on the last ring just as the other person is hanging up, you just press *69 and the number is automatically called back. (Other phone companies have similar services.)

It sounds innocent enough, but true phone fun aficionados are finding it can get a little more complicated than that.

Say you’re one of those people who likes to play the hang-up game; that is, you call someone to see if he or she is home, then hang up on “Hello.”

If the person you call happens to have call return, you can be instantly busted.

John: Dials ex-girlfriend Jane, hangs up as she says, “Hello.”

Jane: Presses *69, gets ex-boyfriend John.

John: “Hello?”

Jane: “Who is this ?”

John: “Who is this ?” Jane slams down phone.

John: Presses *69, gets ex-girlfriend Jane.

Jane: “Hello?”

John: “Who is this ?” he demands and then recognizes her voice. “Jane? Why are you calling me?”

Jane: “Why are you calling me ?”

And so on.

Makes you nostalgic for rotary phones, doesn’t it?

One for ‘Grumpy Old Men’?The ticket-taker at the AMC theater was asking patrons which film they were there to see.

“ ‘Four Weddings’?” he said to one man.

“No,” the patron grumbled, “one was enough.”

Essentials: If you’re a new parent in L.A., you’re going to have to start dressing like your kids. If you don’t want to, don’t worry--it’ll happen anyway.

While trolling around the mall the other day, we were suddenly struck by the number of parents dressed like their toddlers. No, we’re not talking about those obnoxious matching mother-daughter outfits, but a more subtle merging of styles--like the way some couples eventually start to dress alike.

For example, we’d see a little girl dressed in a pinafore, blouse and T-strap shoes while her mother would have on an oversized jumper with a T-shirt and Mary Janes. Or a small boy would be wearing a colorful polo shirt, baggy shorts and over-designed tennis shoes, and his father would be in virtually the same thing.

We guess the Gap already knows about this. . . .