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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage
=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Telegraphic_English_=96_genuine_examples_(it_says_here)?=
Just picked up a long unglanced at copy of the 1978 ?Weasel Words' by Philip Howard (who once wrote ? still does? - a column on English for the London ?Times' ? the book is a collection of some of his pieces).
On p139, he makes a reference to what he calls ?cable-ese or cablese' ? the peculiar form of English designed to send a given message by telegram at minimum cost. (Telegrams were charged by the word.)
There are plenty of examples to and from hapless foreign correspondent John Boot in Evelyn Waugh's ?Scoop' ? my copy of which has gone AWOL. But Howard has what he alleges are genuine texts, sent by
?John Bierman who now works for Reuters and the BBC out of Cyprus,'
(Bierman is, it seems, still alive and writing (1).)
When reporting from Central Africa, and required to obtain a statement from the then colonial authorities on whatever it was, he supposedly cabled
?CHECK-IMPOSSIBLE EVERYBODY OFFBUGGERED HILLWARDS'
And, commenting on a story in the ?Daily Express'
?EXPRESSTORY PISTON EXGREATHEIGHT'
So far as I'm aware, there was something of an industry in minimising the cost of a wire: published codes, for instance, whose merit was obviously not secrecy, but brevity, were, I think, widely used in business. But private communications would no doubt be trimmed on a DIY basis.
(I seem to recall a sketch ? from hearing recordings long after the event! ? from ?Beyond the Fringe' ? involving Alan Bennett dictating a telegram to his inamorata over the phone. His attempt at frugality was the use of the acronym NORWICH: ?knickers off ready when I come home'. There was, I recall, some dispute whether this ought not more correctly be KORWICH. This, after all, was an era when folk willingly retired to bed with a mug of Horlicks with the skin on it?)
Has any proper study been made of this phenomenon? I'd be fairly certain that Ph D's are being scribed as I write on English of texting ? a pity if its forerunner wasn't dealt with likewise.
(The phrase ?telegraphic English' only seems to crop up online as a ?mostly pejorative ? description of prose which omits articles, copulas and the like without the pecuniary excuse available to Bierman and Boot! The name of Mr Jingle from ?Pickwick Papers' somehow springs to mind.)
(1) http://www.penguin.co.uk/Author/AuthorFrame/0,1020,,00.html?id=1000003337
On p139, he makes a reference to what he calls ?cable-ese or cablese' ? the peculiar form of English designed to send a given message by telegram at minimum cost. (Telegrams were charged by the word.)
There are plenty of examples to and from hapless foreign correspondent John Boot in Evelyn Waugh's ?Scoop' ? my copy of which has gone AWOL. But Howard has what he alleges are genuine texts, sent by
?John Bierman who now works for Reuters and the BBC out of Cyprus,'
(Bierman is, it seems, still alive and writing (1).)
When reporting from Central Africa, and required to obtain a statement from the then colonial authorities on whatever it was, he supposedly cabled
?CHECK-IMPOSSIBLE EVERYBODY OFFBUGGERED HILLWARDS'
And, commenting on a story in the ?Daily Express'
?EXPRESSTORY PISTON EXGREATHEIGHT'
So far as I'm aware, there was something of an industry in minimising the cost of a wire: published codes, for instance, whose merit was obviously not secrecy, but brevity, were, I think, widely used in business. But private communications would no doubt be trimmed on a DIY basis.
(I seem to recall a sketch ? from hearing recordings long after the event! ? from ?Beyond the Fringe' ? involving Alan Bennett dictating a telegram to his inamorata over the phone. His attempt at frugality was the use of the acronym NORWICH: ?knickers off ready when I come home'. There was, I recall, some dispute whether this ought not more correctly be KORWICH. This, after all, was an era when folk willingly retired to bed with a mug of Horlicks with the skin on it?)
Has any proper study been made of this phenomenon? I'd be fairly certain that Ph D's are being scribed as I write on English of texting ? a pity if its forerunner wasn't dealt with likewise.
(The phrase ?telegraphic English' only seems to crop up online as a ?mostly pejorative ? description of prose which omits articles, copulas and the like without the pecuniary excuse available to Bierman and Boot! The name of Mr Jingle from ?Pickwick Papers' somehow springs to mind.)
(1) http://www.penguin.co.uk/Author/AuthorFrame/0,1020,,00.html?id=1000003337
Top answer
[nq:1]Just picked up a long unglanced at copy of the 1978 'Weasel Words' by Philip Howard (who once wrote - ... pecuniary excuse available to Bierman and Boot! com ) as follows: (quote, with pronunciation symbols replaced by ASCII IPA) telegraphese /,tEl@gr&fis/, n.
- [nq:1]Just picked up a long unglanced at copy of the 1978 'Weasel Words' by Philip Howard (who once wrote - ...
- pecuniary excuse available to Bierman and Boot!
- com ) as follows: (quote, with pronunciation symbols replaced by ASCII IPA) telegraphese /,tEl@gr&fis/, n.
- ( telegraph + -ese.
- ) A very terse style, such as that in which telegrams are commonly written ; a style marked by very short sentences.
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10 Answers
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[nq:1]Just picked up a long unglanced at copy of the 1978 'Weasel Words' by Philip Howard (who once wrote - ... pecuniary excuse available to Bierman and Boot! The name of Mr Jingle from 'Pickwick Papers' somehow springs to mind.) (1)http://www.penguin.co.uk/Author/AuthorFrame/0,1020,,00.ht
00
There is a story, possibly true, that a writer, needing to know Cary Grant's age, telegraphed his agent
HOW OLD CARY GRANT
and received the reply
OLD CARY GRANT FINE STOP HOW YOU
Joe Fineman (Email Removed)
HOW OLD CARY GRANT
and received the reply
OLD CARY GRANT FINE STOP HOW YOU
Joe Fineman (Email Removed)
00
[nq:1]There is a story, possibly true, that a writer, needing to know Cary Grant's age, telegraphed his agent HOW OLD CARY GRANT and received the reply OLD CARY GRANT FINE STOP HOW YOU [/nq]
Here's one for Leftpondians - (Rightpondians learn this one in school). A British General cables back to England from the far reaches of the Empire - a single word "Peccavi".
What was the news he was i
Here's one for Leftpondians - (Rightpondians learn this one in school). A British General cables back to England from the far reaches of the Empire - a single word "Peccavi".
What was the news he was i
00
[nq:2]There is a story, possibly true, that a writer, needing ... the reply OLD CARY GRANT FINE STOP HOW YOU [/nq]
[nq:1]Here's one for Leftpondians - (Rightpondians learn this one in school).[/nq]
A quite unjustified slur on the nation's comprehensive schools: they make heroic efforts to ensure nobody learns anything.
[nq:1]A British General cables back to England from the far reaches
[nq:1]Here's one for Leftpondians - (Rightpondians learn this one in school).[/nq]
A quite unjustified slur on the nation's comprehensive schools: they make heroic efforts to ensure nobody learns anything.
[nq:1]A British General cables back to England from the far reaches
00
[nq:1]Here's one for Leftpondians - (Rightpondians learn this one in school). A British General cables back to England from the far reaches of the Empire - a single word "Peccavi".[/nq]
And where would he have been (not in the Empire) if he had said "scidi"?
Richard
Spam filter: to mail me from a .com/.net site, put my surname in the headers.
FreeBSD rules!
And where would he have been (not in the Empire) if he had said "scidi"?
Richard
Spam filter: to mail me from a .com/.net site, put my surname in the headers.
FreeBSD rules!
00
[nq:1]Here's one for Leftpondians - (Rightpondians learn this one in school).[/nq]
Even now? There are teachers left that have any Latin, are there?
[nq:1]A British General cables back to England from the far reaches of the Empire - a single word "Peccavi". What was the news he was imparting?[/nq]
Left as an exercise...
When I was born (early 1962), my mother's sister was on a ship
Even now? There are teachers left that have any Latin, are there?
[nq:1]A British General cables back to England from the far reaches of the Empire - a single word "Peccavi". What was the news he was imparting?[/nq]
Left as an exercise...
When I was born (early 1962), my mother's sister was on a ship
00
Jitze, you can't possibly have beaten Ben Zimmer, can you? Maybe the chap's ill: should somebody pop round to check?
Would it help if we said it was nothing to do with bones?
Mike.
Would it help if we said it was nothing to do with bones?
Mike.
00
( . . . )
Shouldn't that be "from a far reach"? How could the general be cabling from more than one reach at the same time?
[nq:2]Left as an exercise...[/nq]
Hint: See, from alt.usage.english archives,
Message-ID (Email Removed)#1/1
dated 6 July 1996, or
Message-ID (Email Removed)
dated 18 May 2001.
Shouldn't that be "from a far reach"? How could the general be cabling from more than one reach at the same time?
[nq:2]Left as an exercise...[/nq]
Hint: See, from alt.usage.english archives,
Message-ID (Email Removed)#1/1
dated 6 July 1996, or
Message-ID (Email Removed)
dated 18 May 2001.
00
[nq:2]There is a story, possibly true, that a writer, needing ... the reply OLD CARY GRANT FINE STOP HOW YOU [/nq]
[nq:1]Here's one for Leftpondians - (Rightpondians learn this one in school). A British General cables back to England from the ... What was the news he was imparting? Hint - No, he was not confessing to some infraction of the rules.[/nq]
According to some poet in the Oxford D
[nq:1]Here's one for Leftpondians - (Rightpondians learn this one in school). A British General cables back to England from the ... What was the news he was imparting? Hint - No, he was not confessing to some infraction of the rules.[/nq]
According to some poet in the Oxford D
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On Tue, 12 Aug 2003, in message
(Email Removed), Jerry Friedman writes
[nq:1]According to some poet in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations , a later conqueror (Googles... Dalhousie) in India sent the despatch "Vovi".[/nq]
Now that one I don't know. And can't find on the web.
Mark Browne
If replying by email, please use the "Reply-To" address, as the "From" addre
(Email Removed), Jerry Friedman writes
[nq:1]According to some poet in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations , a later conqueror (Googles... Dalhousie) in India sent the despatch "Vovi".[/nq]
Now that one I don't know. And can't find on the web.
Mark Browne
If replying by email, please use the "Reply-To" address, as the "From" addre
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