I do recognise that a lot of it is probably just playing up for the joke, but I assume it has to come from somewhere. I regularly see posts where basically Person A sends an odd image/message, then follows up with “wrong number, sorry” and Person B responds with “wait stay”.
Do Americans, as a rule, not save phone numbers? Or is it purely a bit that has become a trope?
It’s not really that surprising that people have typos when punching in phone numbers. Though it’s less common than it used to be, probably because you can see the number on your phone before you actually hit send. Back in the old days you just punched numbers on the keypad, or God forbid turn to the dial, and hoped for the best. Yes my mother bought on purpose a rotary goddamn phone. It was just the one in the kitchen, and she liked it cuz it looked all antique-like. The thing was uncomfortable as hell, and I much preferred the normal one, at least until cell phones finally exterminated 99.99% of residential landlines.