Former colleague and friend Les Lilliman sometimes for semi-humorous effect said blower meaning "telephone". Belatedly, from Wikipedia:

... a slang term, especially in the United Kingdom. The slang came from the Royal Naval ships prior to telephones. Communication was direct, through a voice pipe. The pipe had a whistle inserted at each end. When a message was to be passed, the caller would remove the whistle at his end, place his mouth into the cavity, sealing it. He would then blow hard. The whistle at the other end would attract the man on watch. He would remove his whistle and call into the pipe. Conversations over, both whistles were replaced. ...

Words are wonderful!

(cf. IdeaChampions (1999-07-04), ...) - ^z - 2014-05-01