I am an introvert from the past. I just dated myself at work. I need to make that stuff up. Which were the ’80s or ’30s? Cells were pretty rare until the end? If we used the term “landline” already to refer to any phones whose signal went over copper wires, there is no such thing as a landline today. The term ‘hardline’ means a landline that was secure – but I think the hardline term came from the fact that in addition to the signal processing, the lines themselves were often carried in armored monitored cable sheaths. ‘call so and so’ and ‘call so and so on a hardline’ where the latter meant it was to be a secure conversation – of course back then we still thought triple DES was worth something ;-D.