Hazardous digits: Telephone keypads and Russian numbers in Tbilisi, Georgia

• Telephone keypads generate a preference for base-10 number system use.
• Russian language in Georgia has been naturalized as a language appropriate for technical communication.
• Numeral systems in/as elements of infrastructure encode sociotechnical values.

Why do many Georgian speakers in Tbilisi prefer a non-native language (Russian) for providing telephone numbers to their interlocutors? One of the most common explanations is that the addressee is at risk of miskeying a number if it is given in Georgian, a vigesimal system, rather than Russian, a decimal system. Rationales emphasizing the hazards of Georgian numbers in favor of the “ease” of Russian numbers provide an entrypoint to discuss the social construction of linguistic difference with respect to technological artifacts. This article investigates historical and sociotechnical dimensions contributing to ease of communication as the primary rationale for Russian language preference. The number keypad on the telephone has afforded a normative preference for Russian linguistic code.