Talk:hold the phone

I believe this expression originated in the days where reporters needed to phone their stories in to newspaper editors from public phone boxes. As there was often a crush on the phones at the end of an event - like a sports game - the smart journalist would have most of the story written and get to the phone before the game had finished. However, if something exciting seemed to be happening, or if some other news event was being covered and there was some new development occurring, the reporter might even scream - 'hold the phone' - while he went to investigate this new twist in the story.

Thus 'hold the phone' has come to mean; something new and exciting is happening which may change your expectations. There is a last-minute development to this story which may provide a quite different outcome now to what you expected.