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The code referred to is a "commercial code". There's a scan of a page from a 1910 code on Wikipedia. Amazing that a phrase like "Confined yesterday, Twins, bo

The code referred to is a "commercial code". There's a scan of a page from a 1910 code on Wikipedia. Amazing that a phrase like "Confined yesterday, Twins, both dead, Mother not expected to live" was given a single code word ("Annosus"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_code_(communications) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_code_(communication... "Unicode — The Universal Telegraphic Code Book" https://archive.org/details/unicodeuniversa00unkngoog/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater https://archive.org/details/unicodeuniversa00unkngoog/mode/2...

Symbiote 3y ago
From Unicode, it's interesting but not surprising that so many of the codes are for significant personal and business problems, like the birth of children, missed travel connections etc. "Diota" "Amputation is considered unnecessary". "Annexus" "Confined to-day, Twins, one alive, a girl, Mother not expected to live". Towards the back of the book is shown a very early 'DNS'; abbreviated addresses for businesses. "Supplies, London" meant "Junior Army and Navy Stores Limited", a bit like a generic supplies.co.uk. "Jowoto, London" meant "Johnson, Walker & Tolhurst".
- bombcar 3y ago
  You have to remember that telegrams were expensive, you'd not just send one for anything; it would be for major events (like a birth, or death) and so encoding the variations of that would be worth it. In fact, it's just bitmapping.
sorokod 3y ago
BTW "Confined" has the meaning of being in labour, child birth.
- OJFord 3y ago
  Or almost. They're both euphemistic really - confined to bed; soon to labour.
kristianp 3y ago
Man, as a parent this chills me. Before modern medicine the statistics of deaths in childbirth were scary.
- stefantalpalaru 3y ago
  [dead]
- Damogran6 3y ago
  Death was something a lot more people spent a lot more time with than we do now. It was 23 years between the death of my last grandparent and the death of my father...and another 16 year til the death of my Father in law.
  - matt-attack 3y ago
    My uncle used to tell stories about death when he was growing up (30s or 40s). A line he would use always sticks either me, “back then, when you got sick, you died.” He would go on to say just how common it was to know a child or adult that died. It was just a normal part of existence.
    - buffington 3y ago
      It used to be that if someone said "Jeff got in a car accident," it usually meant that Jeff was dead or disabled for life. Today, it simply means that Jeff is going to be 45 minutes late for work. Since I lived in the "surely dead" era, I still react that way if someone mentions someone getting in a wreck. People must assume I'm upset over Jeff's surely totaled car (something that didn't always happen in the olden days).
- SilasX 3y ago
  Yeah, the short code for it reminds me of the line from Broken Arrow (1996): “I don't know what's scarier, losing nuclear weapons, or that it happens so often there's actually a term for it.” https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0115759/quotes/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0115759/quotes/
- 3y ago
atticora 3y ago
Is the code for the weather report at all similar to the one for "help I am a prisoner in a vintage dress factory"?
shrubble 3y ago
That certainly led me to a very pleasant rabbit hole! Different codes invented for different trades or professions, also...
thyrox 3y ago
I really hope those messages had a CRC check so as not to start wars unnecessarily.
fennecfoxy 3y ago
Used for telegraphy, too. I recommend reading "The Victorian Internet" by Tom Standage. https://www.unicode.org/L2/Historical/Unicode-Telegraphic-PhraseBook.pdf https://www.unicode.org/L2/Historical/Unicode-Telegraphic-Ph... is an example but from what I've read there were massive volumes that included all sorts of specific stuff. Companies coming up with their own codes to save on telegraphy costs were cool, code books with random letters smooshed together. Obviously telegraph operators had trouble with this, reducing their pace so telegraphy companies banned usage of non-words in telegrams (more on that in the book I mentioned).

Symbiote 3y ago

From Unicode, it's interesting but not surprising that so many of the codes are for significant personal and business problems, like the birth of children, missed travel connections etc. "Diota" "Amputation is considered unnecessary". "Annexus" "Confined to-day, Twins, one alive, a girl, Mother not expected to live". Towards the back of the book is shown a very early 'DNS'; abbreviated addresses for businesses. "Supplies, London" meant "Junior Army and Navy Stores Limited", a bit like a generic supplies.co.uk. "Jowoto, London" meant "Johnson, Walker & Tolhurst".

bombcar 3y ago
You have to remember that telegrams were expensive, you'd not just send one for anything; it would be for major events (like a birth, or death) and so encoding the variations of that would be worth it. In fact, it's just bitmapping.

sorokod 3y ago

BTW "Confined" has the meaning of being in labour, child birth.

OJFord 3y ago
Or almost. They're both euphemistic really - confined to bed; soon to labour.

kristianp 3y ago

Man, as a parent this chills me. Before modern medicine the statistics of deaths in childbirth were scary.

stefantalpalaru 3y ago
[dead]
Damogran6 3y ago
Death was something a lot more people spent a lot more time with than we do now. It was 23 years between the death of my last grandparent and the death of my father...and another 16 year til the death of my Father in law.
- matt-attack 3y ago
  My uncle used to tell stories about death when he was growing up (30s or 40s). A line he would use always sticks either me, “back then, when you got sick, you died.” He would go on to say just how common it was to know a child or adult that died. It was just a normal part of existence.
  - buffington 3y ago
    It used to be that if someone said "Jeff got in a car accident," it usually meant that Jeff was dead or disabled for life. Today, it simply means that Jeff is going to be 45 minutes late for work. Since I lived in the "surely dead" era, I still react that way if someone mentions someone getting in a wreck. People must assume I'm upset over Jeff's surely totaled car (something that didn't always happen in the olden days).
SilasX 3y ago
Yeah, the short code for it reminds me of the line from Broken Arrow (1996): “I don't know what's scarier, losing nuclear weapons, or that it happens so often there's actually a term for it.” https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0115759/quotes/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0115759/quotes/
3y ago

atticora 3y ago

Is the code for the weather report at all similar to the one for "help I am a prisoner in a vintage dress factory"?

shrubble 3y ago

That certainly led me to a very pleasant rabbit hole! Different codes invented for different trades or professions, also...

thyrox 3y ago

I really hope those messages had a CRC check so as not to start wars unnecessarily.

fennecfoxy 3y ago

Used for telegraphy, too. I recommend reading "The Victorian Internet" by Tom Standage. https://www.unicode.org/L2/Historical/Unicode-Telegraphic-PhraseBook.pdf https://www.unicode.org/L2/Historical/Unicode-Telegraphic-Ph... is an example but from what I've read there were massive volumes that included all sorts of specific stuff. Companies coming up with their own codes to save on telegraphy costs were cool, code books with random letters smooshed together. Obviously telegraph operators had trouble with this, reducing their pace so telegraphy companies banned usage of non-words in telegrams (more on that in the book I mentioned).