You could repeatedly smash someone over the head with one.
boath fones
Bob Marley
The only thing I can think of is the word "rotary". There are rotary engines and old rotary phones that had dials....hope this helps.
Rotary
The rotary dial phone used a wheel to dial a sequence of numbers. It went into use as early as the 1890s to overcome the need for an operator to connect all calls. The rotary dial remained in use until the 1980s and beyond.. Even today, many telephone exchanges still support the rotary dial signalling.
Rotary phones became touchtone phones. Then, cable tv started. This was before the Internet, cellphones, and computers.
Originally to use a phone you had to enter the numbers using a rotary dial. Then with digital phones, it became possible to enter numbers using buttons. These button phones were called "touch" phones.
Mobile phones may be harmful to health. But it do not leads be fatal.
Ask yourself.
If you are referring to a rotary phone system, you will need to make sure you provider has you on tone (most likely in 2010). You then just need to get new phones. If you old phones were hardwired in, then the phone company will need to come out and install jacks.
There are many websites that offer vintage phones of the rotary style such as the boldoldphones website or the bestbuy website. Alternatively you could use the ebay bidding website or the amazon website.
An old fashioned rotary phone is a lot easier to find than on may think. Almost every swap meet has at least one person trying to get rid of a rotary phone. The local antique store, church rummage sales, and yard sales are great options too.