I Only Came to Use the Phone

E113631

literary work short story

"I Only Came to Use the Phone" is a surreal short story by Gabriel García Márquez about a woman who, after a roadside mishap, is mistakenly confined to a mental institution when she only wants to make a phone call.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono	2
"Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono"	1
I Only Came to Use the Phone canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T965977 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: I Only Came to Use the Phone
Context triple: [Strange Pilgrims, hasPart, I Only Came to Use the Phone]

A. The Phone Booth
The Phone Booth is a nickname for the MCI Center, a former multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena in Washington, D.C.
B. How Come You Don't Call Me
"How Come You Don't Call Me" is a soulful R&B song by Alicia Keys, featured on her debut album "Songs in A Minor" and noted for its emotive vocals and blues-inflected piano.
C. Call You Tonight
"Call You Tonight" is a song by Whitney Houston from her 2009 comeback album "I Look to You."
D. In My Business
"In My Business" is a song by Whitney Houston from her 1998 album *My Love Is Your Love*, blending R&B and pop with themes of privacy and personal boundaries.
E. The Things I Say
"The Things I Say" is a song by the indie folk-rock musician Joanna Newsom from her album "Divers."
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: I Only Came to Use the Phone
Target entity description: "I Only Came to Use the Phone" is a surreal short story by Gabriel García Márquez about a woman who, after a roadside mishap, is mistakenly confined to a mental institution when she only wants to make a phone call.

A. The Phone Booth
The Phone Booth is a nickname for the MCI Center, a former multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena in Washington, D.C.
B. How Come You Don't Call Me
"How Come You Don't Call Me" is a soulful R&B song by Alicia Keys, featured on her debut album "Songs in A Minor" and noted for its emotive vocals and blues-inflected piano.
C. Call You Tonight
"Call You Tonight" is a song by Whitney Houston from her 2009 comeback album "I Look to You."
D. In My Business
"In My Business" is a song by Whitney Houston from her 1998 album *My Love Is Your Love*, blending R&B and pop with themes of privacy and personal boundaries.
E. The Things I Say
"The Things I Say" is a song by the indie folk-rock musician Joanna Newsom from her album "Divers."
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (42)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	literary work ⓘ short story ⓘ
adaptationStatus	known primarily as a literary text ⓘ
author	Gabriel García Márquez ⓘ
authorNationality	Colombian ⓘ
centralTheme	bureaucratic absurdity ⓘ institutional violence ⓘ loss of identity ⓘ miscommunication ⓘ powerlessness ⓘ
collectionOriginalLanguage	Spanish ⓘ
collectionType	short story collection ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Colombia ⓘ
firstPublicationYear	1992 ⓘ
form	prose ⓘ
genre	magical realism ⓘ surreal fiction ⓘ
hasFemaleProtagonist	true ⓘ
hasThemeOf	abuse of authority ⓘ alienation ⓘ social critique ⓘ
includedInEnglishEdition	Strange Pilgrims ⓘ surface form: Strange Pilgrims (English translation)
language	Spanish ⓘ
length	short ⓘ
literaryMovement	Latin American Boom ⓘ
mainCharacter	María de la Luz Cervantes ⓘ
motif	confinement ⓘ telephone ⓘ
narrativePerspective	third-person narration ⓘ
notableFor	depiction of a woman trapped in a mental institution by mistake ⓘ use of surreal and absurd elements in a realistic setting ⓘ
originalLanguageTitle	I Only Came to Use the Phone self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: "Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono"
originalTitle	I Only Came to Use the Phone self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono
partOf	Strange Pilgrims ⓘ
plotSummary	A woman is mistakenly confined to a mental institution after a roadside mishap when she only wants to make a phone call. ⓘ
publisherOfCollection	Alfred A. Knopf ⓘ
setting	Spain ⓘ
subjectMatter	marital relationships ⓘ psychiatric institutions ⓘ
timePeriodOfSetting	20th century ⓘ
tone	darkly comic ⓘ disturbing ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Strange Pilgrims → hasPart → I Only Came to Use the Phone ⓘ

I Only Came to Use the Phone → originalTitle → I Only Came to Use the Phone self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono

I Only Came to Use the Phone → originalLanguageTitle → I Only Came to Use the Phone self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: "Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono"

Doce cuentos peregrinos → hasPart → I Only Came to Use the Phone ⓘ