[Ads-l] Antedating of "Ham" (Radio)

[George Thompson]

I take a personal interest in this topic, since my father was a
professional wireless telegraphist in the early decades of the 20th C.
Here are notes made from the article, as found in Proquest's American
Periodicals Online.

            [wireless telegraphy has been the domain of the Navy Department
until recently]  It is estimated that throughout the United States over
four thousand amateur Wireless Telegraph stations are in active
operation.   ***  A town of nine hundred inhabitants in upper New York
State [has] twenty-eight wireless stations.   Three electrical publications
cater almost exclusively to these operators. . . .    [Their transmissions
interfere with the Navy's]  [p. 131]

            [the amateurs call up] their friends, carrying on long
conversations . . . , and occasionally . . . sounding the call letters of
the nearest naval operator and inquiring about his health.  ***  A Boston
amateur, when recently told by a naval operator to "butt out," made the
following classic remark: "Say. you navy people think you own the ether.
Who ever heard of the navy, anyway?  Beat it, you, beat it."

            An interesting record of amateur gossip as it is carried on
over the ether has been compiled by one of the naval operators.  ***

            "How do you get me to-day?  I am using my new transformer and
my helix is hooked up different.  ***  Say, old man, I get you fine as
silk.  ***  Say, old man, I met your lady friend yesterday.  Ha, ha.  Quit
your kidding.  Say, do  you know the fellow who is putting up a new station
out your way? I think he is a ham. Will call you up in ten minutes. Say,
old man, must go to supper now, but will be on the rest of the night.
O.K., O.K., will see you later."

The "electrical publications that cater almost exclusively to these
operators" would be worth looking at.

If someone had invented a wireless key and transmitter that could fit into
a pocket, this scene would have been an antedating of the 21st century.

GAT


On Sun, Jul 31, 2016 at 4:16 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> How do you distinguish ham=bad telegraphist, which goes back to 19th C.
> from ham=amateur wireless radio operator?
>
> On Jul 31, 2016 2:09 PM, "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> The Wikipedia article "Etymology of ham radio" also mentioned a
> citation in April 1909 for "ham" that seemed to match the desired
> sense of: "An amateur telegraphist; now esp. an amateur radio
> operator."
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio
>
> Here are the details (please double-check for errors):
>
> Date: April 1909
> Periodical: Electrician and Mechanic
> Volume 19, Number 10
> Article: Wireless Interference
> Author: Robert A. Morton
> Start Page 422, Quote Page 424, Column 1 and 2
> Database: HathiTrust Full View
>
> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hxhis4
> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hxhis4?urlappend=%3Bseq=636
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "How do you get me to-day? I am using my new transformer and my helix
> is hitched up different.
> . . .
> Say, do  you know the fellow who is putting up a new station out your
> way? I think he is a ham. Will call you up in ten minutes. Say, old
> man, must go to supper now, but will be on the rest of the night. O K,
> O K, will see you later."
> [End excerpt]
>
> The passage was repeated in a later article by Morton.
>
> Date: January 15, 1910
> Periodical: The Outlook: A Weekly Newspaper
> Editor-in-Chief: Lyman Abbott
> Article: The Amateur Wireless Operator
> Author: Robert A. Morton
> Publisher: The Outlook Company, New York
> Start Page 131, Quote Page 133, Column 1
> Database: Google Books Full View
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=l5tFAQAAMAAJ&q=%22is+a+ham%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "How do you get me to-day? I am using my new transformer and my helix
> is hitched up different.
> . . .
> Say, do  you know the fellow who is putting up a new station out your
> way? I think he is a ham. Will call you up in ten minutes. Say, old
> man, must go to supper now, but will be on the rest of the night.
> O.K., O.K., will see you later."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 30, 2016 at 8:50 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> > The OED first use of the radio sense of "ham" (ham, n.1 4.) is dated
> 1919.  According to Wikipedia, this term was used in an article titled
> "Floods and Wireless" by Hanby Carver, published in the August 1915 issue
> of Technical World Magazine.
> >
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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-- 
George A. Thompson
The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998..

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org