3 ms·

All the more reason, then, to have a line-/paragraph-breaking glyph!

• reaperducer 7y ago
  No, that's not how it worked. The messages weren't arranged in paragraphs. They were snipped to fit inside the pre-printed box on the telegraph form. And even very rich people didn't send multi-paragraph telegrams. You paid by the letter. Most telegrams were two sentences or less. Sometimes two words or fewer.
  • YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
    Hence the word "telegraphic": 1. Of, relating to, or transmitted by telegraph. 2. Brief or concise: a telegraphic style of writing. (My underlining)
  • cryptonector 7y ago
    Mark Twain famously sent a one-character telegram to his agent: ? And the agent famously responded: ! The real question was "how's the new book doing?".
    • yesenadam 7y ago
      I always heard it was Victor Hugo and Les Miserables–indeed it's mentioned ("apocryphal tale") on Hugo's wikipedia page...with a link to this page saying it most probably never happened. Also I came across it as an Oscar Wilde story online just now. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/06/14/exclamation/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/06/14/exclamation/
      • cryptonector 7y ago
        Fascinating. Three different apocryphal versions of the same story. EDIT: Searching, I only find the versions about Wilde and Hugo, so it may be just that I misremembered it.