# Western Union stops sending telegrams **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 5, 2006, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092 "2006-02-05T10:20:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/21 "2006-02-06T01:24:56Z")
My favorite telegram anecdote involved someone who sent a telegram to Cary Grant asking how old he was. It was worded, “How old Cary Grant?” The reply: “Old Cary Grant fine. How you?” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/22 "2006-02-06T01:27:34Z")
And according to Grant himself, this story was apocryphal. Ah, well. Like they say, a good story deserves repeating (or was that a good cast?). ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/23 "2006-02-06T02:25:58Z")
I saw the new on this yesterday, I would have missed it completely had Our former Poster Aha’s song “western union” had not been played during the newcast. Osip What ever happened to Aha anyways? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/24 "2006-02-06T02:35:43Z")
In all my living memory the **Doug** family received exactly _one_ telegram. This was in about 1974 (I was seven), and the sender was my mentally unbalanced step-grandmother, who was upset that my mom would not answer repeated whining, self-righteous letters. I recall that the message was handwritten, as if on a carbon copy form, and that the zip code was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/25 "2006-02-06T02:55:50Z")
> [@Osip](#): > > What ever happened to Aha anyways? I wish I knew. It’s “aha”, BTW. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/26 "2006-02-06T04:20:23Z")
I think I may have the record as the last person on the boards who received a telegram. My ex-fiancee sent me one in 1997, as it was a quick method of communicating with a sailor on a Navy ship if you were a civilian. I have never received one before or since. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/27 "2006-02-06T04:45:59Z")
Oh damn. The Highwayman and I were just talking about this the other day, too. He remembers getting a telegram but I’ve never received or sent one. Now my chance is gone. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/28 "2006-02-06T05:10:28Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > You got ten words for the basic price, and then paid for each additional word. > > That resulted in the joke about a guy who went into the office, wrote out a message to his girlfriend, which read, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” The attendant told him he could have one more word for the same price, so he added, “Regards.” This reminds me of another joke- a dog goes into a telegram office and writes out the message “Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.” When told he can add another “woof” without having to pay extra, he says, “But then the message wouldn’t make any sense.” It’s a rather unusual joke, but I like it for its semi-philosophical statement. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/29 "2006-02-06T05:51:28Z")
Back in the 80s, I sent a telegram to my cousin on his wedding day. It was delivered by calling him on the phone and reading it to him. I’m sure that made him feel special. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/30 "2006-02-06T16:59:06Z")
My parents informed my grandparents that I had arrived (born) by telegram. I meant to do the same thing when the Butlerette was born last April, but due to the chaos involved in becoming a new father, I just plum forgot. The telephone worked just fine for the notification, but I would have liked to do it for the “fun” factor. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/31 "2006-02-06T18:56:22Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > RE: Wiring money > > Why would you need to wire money in this day of ATMs and credit cards worldwide? Because wiring is usually done to transfer the money from one person to another…for situations like late bill/mortgage payments, or for sending money to a relative. Also, what suspenseful, intrigue-laden Hollywood film _doesn’t_ have at least one reference to money being wired to an offshore bank account? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/32 "2006-02-06T18:58:49Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Does anyone know what the last telegram was? Unfortunately we never will, unless the sender or recipient chooses to reveal it. WU will still undoubtedly observe the standards of customer privacy. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/33 "2006-02-06T19:04:01Z")
> [@zagloba](#): > > Back in the 80s, I sent a telegram to my cousin on his wedding day. It was delivered by calling him on the phone and reading it to him. I’m sure that made him feel special. It looks like [this site](http://www.telegramsonline.co.uk/index1.asp) allows you to send a telegram online, which will then possibly be ‘delivered’ by phone. My brain hurts. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092/34 "2006-02-06T22:34:50Z")
A few years ago at a family get together, all of us in my generation (all in our late teens/early twenties now) were looking at photo albums and scrapbooks of our parents and grandparents. We all had a good laugh at my uncle’s very 70’s style weddings and looked at pictures of our grandparents when they were young. There was one telegram in the batch, sent by my paternal grandfather, who none of our generation ever met, to his father. > [@Grandpa Robert](#): > > TELL MOM TO STOP WORRYING. LORETTA SAID YES. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-union-stops-sending-telegrams/343092.md?page=1)