The San Francisco call., 1910-11-07
OPERATOR MORSE
ISQUEERLANGUAGE
Old TeIegrapher Tells of Many
Little Ins and Outs of
Vocation

II tell you. most people don't realize
what there is in this DOT and dash
business said the old telegrapher. as
he knocked of work for the DAY in his
subststicn. and flied and lit his pipe
with slow celebration. You go into
the opera ting room at the oompan any's
main office, and YOU hear the fellows
talking what YOU might think was
Esperanto. If YOU didn't know that
lingo. and the chances are voue don't.
You hear them speaking Of 'megohms'
and 'mierofarsds and 'nilliamperes
snd such mysterious things You see
one burst out laughing. all Of a sudden.
Tor no reason whateNeT. and YOU might
fancy that lie had gone crazy in a
hurry. Yes. we actually have a land
gusge Of our own. 'telegrs phese. 2 sort
of Esperanto. as a matter Of fact. for ii
Is q universal tongue spoken through
tho finger tips and in most cases read
by ear.
You can read the charac cters OF a
telegra pher thousand miles away by
means Of his Morse which is the na me
oN which the language goes in the pro-
feSh- j had almost said YOU could tell
the color OF his hair. and fits a sure
thlng that YOU can occasionally.
An operators Morse is as distinctive
as his face. his tones or his handwrit-
NJ. and IFS as difficult TO counterfeit
IS his voice or his writing. During the
'lNll war. and. indeed. for some years
afterwaro. ] was in the employment
- the war department. and il was in
mat service that I and others came TO
lse the important facts ] have men
toned 10 some advanta ge a confeder-
% ate. for example, would encounter on the
llne Of march z line Of wire which he
nr s~F Hefr-
He tapped the wire. cut in his instru-
77ents and listened. He found his sur
mise was correct; he ground off one
or the other end. and, trying TO disguise
lis style Of sending made Inquiries
calculated TO develop important in
formation. But the southern accent is
recognized in his Morse by the dis
tant manipulator- who. indeed. may
have been A co-worker in@fhe davs
before the war So the deep witted
plotter got only some iollying from
ne other end. This trick won't work
JACK, wires back the union operator
Let's shake for the sake OF old times.
and then YOU git" out of this
In the dot and dash business q
telegrspher is known by his sight
DaE he the letter Y or . or & Now
there is surely nothing in mere letter.
let alone name, 10 warm up 20 or the
reverse, and Yet after q day or two of
this wire acquaintance with man
whom one has never seen. and whose
name one does not know-a conversa-
ton. mind YOU. not Of your own. but
y exchanging other peoples teIe-
era ms-one gets an impression Of the
other fellows personality as distinct
as II yoU We're looking At and talking
with him. You begin 10 feel friendly
~oTara him or YOU begin to dislike
1ihl- And 50 IL goes Oh. all along the
wires Tho As and Us and &s begin
20 stand for actual people and YOU
0ecognizo their first few clicks over the
Wlre- / know an operator that went
insane. and the only way they could
2acifF him a. the ssnatorium was to
nave telegraph instrument rigged up.
n course. without any communicating
Hifes ~ Ell. sir. that man had lots
= fun. ane4srg he was getting mes
ssses All the time from all sorts Of
people and sources. natural and SUPER
natural Kings and emperors and such
we're. he thought, continually sending
1lm MESA CeS- and, OF course. he po-
itely wired back
III lou want 10 represent a laugh in
print you have TO be content with a
bald 'hs. ha. with, perhaps some other
words 70 describe its nature as iollv. or
dtotic. OF fIendish. or what not In wire
TX the same form is used. but the
Aioli-tiIi ill VI lilNii iA - IFtfOtled Is ma Ge
o impart its quality. In dot and dash
converse. as i'm speech. 'ha ha.' NAV
give an impression Of plirthlessness. OF
mild amusement or Of convulsion. Then.
gain. the double T has. in wire par
ance. a wide range Of meaning. accord
rs 10 the way il is sent. A few double
IS are used as A prelude TO q conver-
sstion. as well 10 break the abrupt
ness in sending il. They are also made
- signify doubt or acouiescence. and,
any hesitation for a word or phrase,
ire used to preserve the continuity of a
iivided sentence. When an order is
given in Morse over the wire the ac-
Snowledgment of the operator IS a
'ingins "a which has the same sig
lifcsnce - the aye, aye, sir Of the
'silor.
It's my impression. founded on the
experience OF a lifetime. that the man
you'd be distinctly deficient in observa-
ION who. after working q wire with a
ftra niger At the other end for 2 week
.Ouid not give an idea Of his coworker's s
.nsrscter and disposition. and the con-
option thus formed should prove to be
sr from being an erroneous one. I don't
lain 10 possess more ina ginstion than
ny neighbors. but have usually been
bic TO build Up, I'm even less than a
week, 4 fairly accurate mental image OF
ny distant vis-a-vis. 1 could fancy
whether he ate with his knife, or wore
sncY socks, or whether his manner
vas aggressive or retiring"