I’m sure this has been asked before, but I can’t seem to find an answer to it. Back in the day, Western Union would apparently charge you by the word and punctuation mark for a telegram, but you could use the word “stop” free instead of using a period that you had to pay for. That makes no sense to me so there has to be a good reason why it would work that way unless the whole thing is just a made up story. Does anybody know the straight dope on this?
It’s my understanding that no punctuation was available, period (heh!), so they’d let you use STOP in lieu of the nonexistent period.
If so, what you heard is incorrect ("…instead of using a period you had to pay for").
That was my understanding, too. It’s based on what my mother told me, and she was old enough to have used telegrams (or at least, seen her parents use them.)
They had ‘short codes’ for some frequently used words. (QR codes?) Was there one for ‘stop’?
There is a prosign for the period character, but I don’t know if that is a recent innovation. Even if it is, it has always seemed strange to me that no one created an ad hoc period char back in the heyday of the telegraph, which would have saved time in every message.
I found this from the History Channel…
“Because telegraph companies typically charged by the word, telegrams became known for their succinct prose–whether they contained happy or sad news. The word “stop,” which was free, was used in place of a period, for which there was a charge. In 1933, Western Union introduced singing telegrams. During World War II, Americans came to dread the sight of Western Union couriers because the military used telegrams to inform families about soldiers’ deaths.”
I used to trust their information, now I don’t know what to believe.
Wikipedia has an image of a 1903 telegram from Orville Wright that clearly closes with a period.
Another site claims to debunk telegram myths by saying
However, they offer no cites to back it up.
OTOH NBC News reports that
I find that specious and makes no sense. Although I don’t see punctuation when I look up Morse code, clever operators could certainly find a way to transmit a period more cheaply than sending a four-letter word.
Yeah, I also found shows on the History Channel about aliens that visited Earth millions of years ago.
Pretty sure they used telegrams in WW II because so many people died. Now they send out an officer or two to notify the family in person.
The Wikipedia article shows several punctuation characters: Morse code - Wikipedia
It says the period is ..._
When my mom died, my sister showed me some things she’d found, including a telegram my mom sent to her mom. It read, “WE GOT MARRIED STOP WILL BE HOME SOON”. (My parents eloped)
If the word stop were really free, one could presumably send a telegram consisting only of N copies of the word stop for no cost. This could suffice for simple messages. I highly doubt that this was the case.
I think the STOP would be sent as a BT digraph, i.e. no pause between characters in Morse code. Printed telegrams often have the character = between sentences or at the end of the message. In Morse code, that’s the same as BT. -…-
They used Western Union because it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was used until Vietnam, when people started realizing how undignified and inhumane it is to receive such a notification from a telegram.
The current practice, at least in the US Army, is for a Casualty Notification Officer (usually a senior enlisted person) to deliver the news in person while accompanied by a Chaplain. After the notification, a Casualty Assistance Officer (again, usually a senior NCO) contacts the family to help them through all of the logistics, financials and paperwork involved. The Casualty Assistance Officer is assigned to that family for as long as the entire process takes–sometimes up to 6 months or longer.
I’ve sometimes seen that rendered in telegrams as AAA
I always understood STOP to describe what it is; a full stop (‘period’ is not used in British - or if it is it means something very different)
But alas, the family often finds out via Facebook or other social media first.
I’m more intrigued by the spelling of “Orevelle” Wright on that telegram. I suppose it was dictated but not read.
Telegrams were traditionally charged by the word. What was to stop senders from combining words e.g. ITSABOY JOHNDOESMITH MOMANDDADWELL ?
But there was a minimum charge. So the cheapest telegram would have been only words, no punctuation, and below the minimum word count.
Also, although telegrams were charged ‘by the word’ long words counted as more than one word.
Certainly by the 20th century, telegrams included punctuation. You can find many images online. It appears the “STOP” was an affectation used when reading one aloud, as in a movie.
I’m pretty sure I learned this on this very forum a few years ago.