Hog-Morse was telegraphers' jargon for the tendency of inexperiencedtelegraph operators to make errors when sending or receiving inMorse code. The term was current in the United States during the period whenAmerican Morse code was still in use.
It is so called after one example (here given inInternational Morse but most likely originating in American Morse):
becomes
with just one subtle error in timing.
The now-defunctAmerican Morse ("railroad code") is different from theInternational Morse Code currently in use forradio telegraphy. With American Morse it was far more difficult to avoid timing errors, because there were more symbol timings than there are in International Morse and some were difficult to distinguish because of their closeness; International Code has only two symbols, dots ( ▄ ) and dashes ( ▄▄▄ ), but the American code had three lengths of dash and two lengths of spaces between dots.
For example, the dashes used for "L" ( ▄▄▄▄ ) and "T" ( ▄▄ ) inAmerican Morse are distinct.Also, inInternational Morse the space between symbols within a character is always the same, but American Morse has two different spaces. For example, the letters "S" ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ), "C" ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ), and "R" ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ) all consist of three dots, but with slightly different timing between the dots in each case.[1][2]
A frequently quoted, but possibly apocryphal, story from the historical period concerns the similarity ofL ( ▄▄▄▄ ) andT ( ▄▄ ) in the American code. A company inRichmond, Virginia received a request for quotation for a load ofUNDRESSED STAVES (rough sawn wood intended for the manufacture of barrels), but the telegraph operator had sent
instead of
thus sending an order forUNDRESSED SLAVES. The company replied reminding the customer that slavery had been abolished.[3]
Another American Morse example given in the literature isPLEASE FILL ME IN becoming6NAZ FIMME Q.[4] One commentator has called this the 19th centuryautocorrect.[5]
