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?
Yeah but they still require some form of ID to register the sim before it can be used.
Its hardly a foolproof system because you just need to key in a drivers licence number, but theres a name or company associated to every number.