An initial 4A N2...?

[sagehen]

larry writes:
>So, do any listees know of work anticipating what I've been burbling
>on about, connecting the
>c. 1840 fad/vogue/craze of initialisms with the more modern trends of
>c. 2000?  Don't want to step on NE1's toes here.
~~~~~~~~
Not me, but there is some interesting supplementary material in the chapter
on Rebuses in OUP's /The Oxford Guide toWord Games/ by Tony Augarde.
Alphanumeric rebuses seem to have been around before 1830.  Recently a sort
of message-sending  in numbers-only tiny LCD pagers has used the
rectilinear design of the numbers to advantage.  Thus 07734 turned
upside-down reads hELLO, for instance.
A. Murie