"Hey check out this website I discovered - it's called Slashdot" "It's called what!?" "Slashdot" "How do you spell that?" "http://slashdot.org" "Hang on, what? How many slashes and dots?"

So the conversation of what might happen occurred before the site was created?

See the FAQ for an official answer - https://slashdot.org/faq

I probably got the telephone part mixed up but was right about being confusing to read aloud.

Can’t get a better source that /. itself!

I have a 6 digit /. id and somehow never knew this. Thanks!