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> in order to pay for fewer words, he'd strung multiple words together I remember reading [1] that nineteenth century telegraph users could buy popular code bo
by andyjohnson0 9y ago
> in order to pay for fewer words, he'd strung multiple words together
I remember reading [1] that nineteenth century telegraph users could buy popular code books that allowed them to save money by substituting single words for common phrases. Obviously both parties needed to use the same code book, and unsurprisingly the telegraph companies tried to ban the practice.
[1] I think this was in The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage. A very interesting read btw.
- skookumchuck 9y agoThink about it - people were already using digital compression techniques in the 1800s!
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- majewsky 9y agoThe same technique is still used by stenotypists. Some years ago, I read a newspaper story about a blind stenotypist who records the proceedings at the Saxonian parliament. He said that he uses a set of a few thousand abbreviations specifically designed for parliament speeches. Then someone takes his papertrail and expands the abbreviations into the actual proceedings.
- saalweachter 9y agoThe practice was also used in shorthand. In addition to being a phonetic transcription, the secretary would also utilize standard abbreviations and contractions to keep up with the spoken word. The documents would then be sent to a secretarial pool of typists who would transcribe it to long-hand. Schools would train secretaries to write their shorthand identically, so that it was legible to other secretaries and the abbreviations were universally understood.