[Orin Kerr, February 1, 2006 at 12:58pm] Trackbacks
WESTERN UNION HAS ENDED ITS TELEGRAM SERVICE STOP
NEWS HERE STOP IF YOU WANT A TELEGRAM TRY EBAY STOP LINK VIA DRUDGE

Related Posts (on one page):

  1. Retro-Gram:
  2. WESTERN UNION HAS ENDED ITS TELEGRAM SERVICE STOP
DNL (mail):
There goes "Back to the Future."
2.1.2006 3:00pm
shergald (mail) (www):
Passing of an era long after it was past, in this case, the nineteen century, well almost. It will never be noticed. Less said the better. STOP
2.1.2006 3:14pm
Joshua:
And to think liberals get bashed for being stuck in the 1960s. Until this week, even they had nothing on WU.
2.1.2006 3:19pm
Jason Fliegel (mail):
You'd be surprised how long telegraphy remained viable. When I started at my firm in 1999, the firm directories still included our Telex ID (though somewhere in the intervening years, it seems to have disappeared). I think fax mortally wounded it and e-mail delivered the killing blow.
2.1.2006 3:19pm
Matt Barr (mail) (www):
Prof. Kerr is on a roll lately.
2.1.2006 3:32pm
magoo (mail):
Funniest telegram ever:

Harpo to Groucho (on Groucho's birthday)....

NO MESSAGE
2.1.2006 3:58pm
Edward Wiest:
I blundered onto the press release Friday night. The irrelevance of the wire to wired life was demonstrated by the fact I saw no reference to this passing in the MSM--even NPR (which ran a piece a few years ago on the end of the requirement ocean-going vessels have radio operators who culd communicate with Morse code (what's that?)).
2.1.2006 3:59pm
Cornellian (mail):
What is a telegram?
2.1.2006 4:08pm
The NJ Annuitant (mail):
Getting a congratulatory telegram on the day of major life event used to be a normal part of the celebration.

My paternal grandfather had been a telegraph operator as a young man. He could still do Morse and international code years after his retirment.
2.1.2006 4:09pm
Wintermute (www):
One less thing for the NSA to have to keep up with....
2.1.2006 4:22pm
Jason Fliegel (mail):
Two funny telegrams, one fictional and the other real (or purportedly real, anyway -- it may be apocryphal).

The fictional one is from MASH, in an episode where Hawkeye learns that his father has been informed that he was killed in action. So Hawkeye dictates the following telegram: "Dear Dad, I am not dead. Stop. Hope you are the same. Stop. Thinking of selling my golf clubs? Stop. Spending my insurance money? Stop."

For the real one, you have to keep in mind that you had to pay for telegrams by the word. As a result, people would leave out unimportant words from their telegrams to save money. Thus, when a reporter doing background for a piece on Cary Grant sent a telegram to Grant's agent inquiring about Grant's age, the telegram read "How old Cary Grant?" Grant had his agent wire back "Old Cary Grant fine. How you?"
2.1.2006 8:00pm
Anon7:
Another one of my favorite telegrams of all time.

To President Herbert Hoover just before the 1932 election:
"Vote for Roosevelt and make it unanimous"
2.1.2006 8:36pm
David Chesler (mail) (www):
Getting a congratulatory telegram on the day of major life event used to be a normal part of the celebration.

Indeed. The family archives still hold examples of these from my grandparents' wedding. Nobody thought to send any to me and my wife; I wish they had (or that I had sent some to others.)

Sure they're obsolete, but so are engraved invitations (which have also been somewhat dispensed with.)

So, what was the last telegram sent?
2.2.2006 9:37am
Raphael Laufer (mail):
To answer David: What had God wraught.
2.2.2006 3:06pm