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Everything Old is New Again: Twitter is the New Telegraph

By: Julie Steininger | 08/05/2009

Some people are naturals; some people are not. Some people tweet with ease; some people agonize over paring down their meaningful commentary to 140 characters.

Ben Schott, author of Schott's Vocab, wrote in the New York Times that "there is nothing new about technology imposing restrictions on articulation." When the telegraph business was booming in the late 19th century, the cheapest telegram was 150 characters and carriers charges extra for words longer than 15 characters and for messages longer than 10 words. To combat these extra fees, telegraphic codes were created to reduce often-used as well as complicated phrases into individual words. Some of my favorites:

• Abusage - His (their) absence is rather mysterious.
• Aerial - Act upon your attorney's advice.
• Andalusite - You seem to be annoyed.
• Cellar - The cheaper the better.
• Crisp - Can you recommend to me a good female cook?
• Flank - A fire raging here. Please send engine. (Seriously?!)
• Insidiator - How much is your life insured for?
• Lambative - Employ a good lawyer.
• Morisco - Money no object.
• Slank - Sick of the entire matter.

So, BFN. HAND. (If you're Twitter-lingo-challenged, visit Twittonary, the Twitter dictionary, for some help.)

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