Subj : Re: HAM To : alt.bbs.synchronet From : info Date : Wed Mar 08 2023 19:47:14 From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet On Wed, 8 Mar 2023 05:42:44 -0500, "Thom LaCosta" did make me awaken from my chaotic existentialism when they didst announce: > To: MRO >//Hello MRO,// > >on *3/8/2023* at *7:49:59* You wrote in area *SYNCHRONET* >to *Phigan* about *"HAM"*. > > M> Re: HAM > M> By: Phigan to tlc on Tue Mar 07 2023 09:26 pm > > >> Re: HAM > >> By: tlc to All on Tue Mar 07 2023 05:30 am > M> > > >> > Just installed the HAM function. Do > M> > > >> Not to be pedantic here (just kidding, pretty sure we all love being a > >> little pedantic once in a while), but "ham" isn't an acronym so shouldn't > >> be capitalized as HAM. It's just ham. > > M> i've ALWAYS seen it referred to as HAM. > >> It's just ham. It was a derogatory term used by > >> professional telegraph operators to describe amateur operators (IIRC). > > M> that just sounds like something someone added to wikipedia. where do you > M> real this from? I'm pretty sure if they wanted to come up with a > M> derogatory term for these guys they could have done better than ham > > His historical reference is accurate. All too often we assume we knew things when we don't. But his comments are akin to beating a dead horse. The reference is oft cited, yet never corroborated. For the last 4 decaes I've been in the hobby, no one has ever been able to provide one single citation to back the claim. The claim usually goes something like this: "Back in ye olde day of ye olde wirelss telegraphist, they didst call the Amateur Radio community 'hams' as an inferrence they were being 'ham-fisted' whilst transmitting ye olde wireless telegraphy mode using ye olde sparke gappe telegraphy equipment" The only person that I was able to meet who was at one point in his life a professional telegraphist before becoming a ham himself, told me that the word "ham" was just a shortened version of "amateur". Essentially "am" with an added "h" for emphasis. Unfortunately, he went SK back in the 80's. Does one person's account mean that the claim is untrue? Of course not. But as with most phrases that enter the English language, it's actual origin will probably never TRULY be known. Ergo, it is not worth arguing about, especially 100 years later. OldbieOne [TM] The One Who Tells It Like It is! Brought to you by RetroPC --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114 * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705) .