Subj : 73! Morse telegraph ;)
To   : Alexander Koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Sat Mar 06 2021 21:26:45

Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:

AK>  Morse's code consists of letters, digits and punctuation
AK>  marks. But punctuation marks are rather exotic Morse
AK>  codes and many people don't use them. For instance, when
AK>  I lived in the USSR, I could receive a telegram that
AK>  looked like this:

AK>  Great wishes for birthday ZPT hope you are well ZPT see
AK>  you soon TCHK

AK>  ZPT and TCHK are Russian abbreviation (written in Latin
AK>  letters here) for a comma and full stop. Did you have in
AK>  old times something similar when a postman brought you
AK>  (paper) telegrams?

AK>  I think it is not necessary to remind you that a paper
AK>  telegram is a postcard with telegram lines glued on it.


          I haven't seen a telegram for many years, but IIRC they were typed in capital letters by somebody in the telegraph office & delivered in an envelope. The word "stop" was used to indicate the full stop at the end of a sentence and there was an extra charge for sending more than ten words.


          I'd expect to see something like this:

               BEST WISHES ON YOUR BIRTHDAY STOP SEE YOU SOON STOP

               ARRIVING VIA EDMONTON FRIDAY DECEMBER 23 AT CN STATION STOP

               THE KING IS DEAD STOP LONG LIVE THE QUEEN STOP

In other countries &/or other languages there may have been some variations.  I imagine a lot may have depended on the content as well.  When the idea could be reduced to short, simple sentences "stop" usually met most people's needs.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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