Party line
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- These are Party Line definitions in amusement and political context. See also The Party Line series of books.
Telephony
In telephone systems, a party line (sometimes multiparty line) is an arrangement in which two or more customers are connected directly to the same loop. Party lines remain primarily in rural areas where local loops are long. Privacy is limited and congestion often occurs.
If selective ringing is not used, individual users may be alerted by different ringing signals, such as a different number of rings or a different combination of long and short rings. While this was mostly abandoned with the party line, it has returned as a feature for different people or devices within each home.
Source: from Federal Standard 1037C
Politics
In politics, the party line is an English language idiom for a political party's canon agenda, and for elements specific the party's partisanship. The common phrase "toeing the party line" describes a person who speaks in a manner that conforms to a political party's agenda.
Used loosely, a the phrase "the party line" may refer to the non-party organizations such as religious groups, business offices, or social network a that may have a semi-official organizational policy or position that is unrelated to any political party.
Swingset etiquette
When two people are swinging on a swingset in at the same frequency and height, this may destabilize the swingset. Proper etiquiette in this case is for one of the swingers to say to the other, "Get off my party line!" The other swinger then adjusts his/her swinging frequency.