3 ms·

I think it was BBS in ancestry but maybe they're saying "That's why" as in "That kind of situation is why..." I was surprised to learn that "tnx" was an early

I think it was BBS in ancestry but maybe they're saying "That's why" as in "That kind of situation is why..." I was surprised to learn that "tnx" was an early morse code convention (lol is 'hihi'). Oh and seeing the phrase "tricked out" in a book from I think the 1800s (via Gutenberg.org) was also surprising.

endymi0n 9y ago
Could have been ze Germans in both cases... "tricked out" is an often self-coined (but wrong) direct translation of "ausgetrickst", meaning outwitted.
Stratoscope 9y ago
"tks" is also a common abbreviation for "thanks" in Morse. A laugh is actually just "hi", although sometimes it would be repeated if conditions were noisy. Then it would be "hi hi" with a space in between, not all sent as one word. So why was "hi" used to indicate a laugh in Morse in the first place? There's no obvious connection with either the word "hi" or the individual letters "h i". The reason is that the meaning here is not in the actual letters or word, it's the sound of "hi" in Morse: • • • • • • http://mg.to/audio/hi.wav http://mg.to/audio/hi.wav It just sounds funny to hear that. A bit reminiscent of the rhythm of the old phrase "shave and a haircut, two bits" but more concise. Oddly, many hams to this day also use "hi" or "hi hi" in voice contacts instead of laughing. I guess that's not too different from saying "lol" out loud! "es" is another interesting abbreviation. This of course is the Spanish word for "and", but hams always use "es" instead of "and" in Morse. It's one letter shorter, but that's not the real reason. Here's "and": • ——— ——— • ——— • • vs. "es": • • • • Much shorter and easier to send!
- ghgr 9y ago
  > This of course is the Spanish word for "and", I'm confused. The Spanish word for "and" is "y". Maybe you meant that hams use "es" instead of "is"?
  - JCharante 9y ago
    Interestingly enough y would be ——— • ——— ———, which is the same length as • •••. Although I think it's still faster to "say" es.
  - Stratoscope 9y ago
    Actually, I was the one who was confused! That's what I get for commenting late at night. Now I'm not sure what the derivation of "es" is. It's definitely used to mean "and", but I don't know why. In any case, thanks for the correction. Update: I just figured out where I got the mixed up Spanish connection! There is a Spanish word used as a Morse code abbreviation, and in fact it's used in every QSO. It's not "es", it's "de" which means "from" both in Spanish and on CW/Morse. So I had the right idea, wrong word. hi hi tks es 73 de WJ6V

endymi0n 9y ago

Could have been ze Germans in both cases... "tricked out" is an often self-coined (but wrong) direct translation of "ausgetrickst", meaning outwitted.

Stratoscope 9y ago

"tks" is also a common abbreviation for "thanks" in Morse. A laugh is actually just "hi", although sometimes it would be repeated if conditions were noisy. Then it would be "hi hi" with a space in between, not all sent as one word. So why was "hi" used to indicate a laugh in Morse in the first place? There's no obvious connection with either the word "hi" or the individual letters "h i". The reason is that the meaning here is not in the actual letters or word, it's the sound of "hi" in Morse: • • • • • • http://mg.to/audio/hi.wav http://mg.to/audio/hi.wav It just sounds funny to hear that. A bit reminiscent of the rhythm of the old phrase "shave and a haircut, two bits" but more concise. Oddly, many hams to this day also use "hi" or "hi hi" in voice contacts instead of laughing. I guess that's not too different from saying "lol" out loud! "es" is another interesting abbreviation. This of course is the Spanish word for "and", but hams always use "es" instead of "and" in Morse. It's one letter shorter, but that's not the real reason. Here's "and": • ——— ——— • ——— • • vs. "es": • • • • Much shorter and easier to send!

ghgr 9y ago
> This of course is the Spanish word for "and", I'm confused. The Spanish word for "and" is "y". Maybe you meant that hams use "es" instead of "is"?
- JCharante 9y ago
  Interestingly enough y would be ——— • ——— ———, which is the same length as • •••. Although I think it's still faster to "say" es.
- Stratoscope 9y ago
  Actually, I was the one who was confused! That's what I get for commenting late at night. Now I'm not sure what the derivation of "es" is. It's definitely used to mean "and", but I don't know why. In any case, thanks for the correction. Update: I just figured out where I got the mixed up Spanish connection! There is a Spanish word used as a Morse code abbreviation, and in fact it's used in every QSO. It's not "es", it's "de" which means "from" both in Spanish and on CW/Morse. So I had the right idea, wrong word. hi hi tks es 73 de WJ6V