根据种类不同，“骚扰电话”有不同的英文表达。概括来说，“骚扰电话”可译为nuisance calls，即让人反感的电话。英国电信（BT）网站对nuisance call的定义直白、清晰：A nuisance call is a call you get that you didn’t ask for.
文章还举了nuisance calls的一些例子：At best nuisance calls are annoying sales pitches and an invasion of privacy - at worst they can be scary and upsetting。Nuisance calls中的这两类：推销电话和让人恐惧和害怕的电话也有对应的说法。“推销电话”的正规说法是telemarketing calls，其较为口语一些的说法是cold call。
根据《韦氏词典》，cold call为：a telephone call soliciting business made directly to a potential customer without prior contact or without a lead。这里的cold意为没有提前通知，有点像中文里“冷不防”的用法。Cold call也可以作为动词使用。
网站stoptelemarketingcalls.com的Telemarketing calls中常见的一种方式是播放录音的语音电话。这种像机器人打的电话叫robocall，意为A telephone call from an automated source that delivers a prerecorded message to a large number of people。Robocall也可以作为动词使用，比如： In 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revised its Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules to require telemarketers to obtain prior express written consent from consumers before robocalling them（2012年，美国联邦通讯委员会修改了《电话用户保护法案》），要求电话推销商在拨打自动语音电话前征得电话用户明确表达的书面同意。）除了推销电话，另一种常见的nuisance calls让人恐惧或不安，这种电话可以称为harassing calls。查到关于harassing call的定义与特征：
可见，通过淫秽、威胁的语言，或者是在话筒里喘粗气或默不作声来威胁你的电话就是harassing call。除了前面提到的这两种骚扰电话，还有一种让人厌烦的电话：prank call。根据grammarist.com， A prank call is when someone calls a telephone line for the sole purpose of playing a prank or joke on the receiving end. The call is supposed to be anonymous and seen as funny for the prankster and slightly annoying for the user. Oftentimes it is associated with children or immature behavior.看来，prank call，即恶作剧电话，让人厌烦的程度可能要轻微一些（slightly annoying）。最后提一下一种很恶劣的nuisance call：swatting。简单来说，swatting是打电话报假警，欺骗警方（到场警力多为SWAT，即特警）前往其他人的住所，算是一种prank calls to emergency services，比如下面这种用法：
- Officials ultimately determined that the call was a hoax, just the latest “swatting” incident—a crime in which a crank caller falsely reports a terrible crime at the victim’s home—to befall a major celebrity.
（中国翻译研究院）
