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

[Peter Reitan]

That is very interesting.

A quick search on newspapers.com finds examples of “’ham’ telegraph operator” and “’ham’ telegrapher” as early as the late-1880s.

Several early examples blame “ham” operators for railroad accidents and deaths – the railroad operating on telegraphed signals and time schedules.

As for whether “ham” was used generally for amateurs, as suggested in the Early Radio History article, I am not sure that was the case.  “Ham,” as in a bad actor, seems to have come from “ham-fatter,” the kind of old-timey actor who might sing the old-time minstrel song, “The Ham Fat Man.”

I touched on that in one of my pieces on the origins of “Hoochie Coochie” (the lyrics to the song, The Ham Fat Man, include, “hoochie, coochie, coochie”).

https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2016/07/part-ii-history-and-etymology-of.html

Some of the early discussions of ham telegraphers discuss their problem as not having the right rhythm, or not distinguishing or separating their letters or signals well.  Might that be related to being ham-handed or ham-fisted?

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From: Shapiro, Fred<mailto:fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2022 5:56 AM
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Subject: Antedating of "Ham" (Telegraphy / Radio Meaning)

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Subject:      Antedating of "Ham" (Telegraphy / Radio Meaning)
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The Early Radio History website has the following discussion antedating OED=
 "ham" n.1, 4., 1919).

Fred Shapiro



Ham. Amateur radio operators are often referred to as "hams" -- a term with=
 a complicated history. At the start of the 1900s, "ham" was sometimes used=
 to refer to someone as "unskilled" -- "Ham actor" being the most common ex=
ample. Wire-line telegraphy employees at this time had a rich vocabulary of=
 insults for describing less-than-capable operators, and in The Slang of th=
e Wire<https://earlyradiohistory.us/1902slng.htm> section of "Telegraph Tal=
k and Talkers", from the January, 1902 issue of McClure's Magazine, author =
L. C. Hall noted "It is an every-day thing to hear senders characterized as=
 Miss Nancys, rattle-brains, swell-heads, or cranks, or 'jays,' simply beca=
use the sound of their dots and dashes suggests the epithets." Hall's revie=
w further noted that "senders of hog-Morse, called technically 'hams' " wer=
e known for their propensity for transmitting garbled Morse code. So it was=
 natural, in light of wire-telegraph practice, for commercial stations to d=
ismiss amateur radio operators as "hams"--and in Floods and Wireless<https:=
//earlyradiohistory.us/1915ama.htm> by Hanby Carver from the August, 1915 T=
echnical World Magazine the author noted "Then someone thought of the 'hams=
'. This is the name that the commercial wireless service has given to amate=
ur operators..."

But, interestingly, "ham" would eventually lose its negative meaning and be=
come a general nickname for all amateurs. This evolution was spotty and not=
 very well documented. As early as the May, 1909 Wireless Registry<https://=
earlyradiohistory.us/1909wr2.htm> list in Modern Electrics, Earl C. Hawkins=
 of Minneapolis, Minnesota was listed with the callsign of "H.A.M." This ca=
llsign was likely assigned by the magazine -- this was before the U.S. gove=
rnment began licencing stations and issuing callsigns -- but was this an in=
side joke or just a coincidence? In two articles by Robert A. Morton, Wirel=
ess Interference<https://earlyradiohistory.us/1909ama.htm>, in the April, 1=
909 Electrician and Mechanic, and The Amateur Wireless Operator<https://ear=
lyradiohistory.us/1910ama.htm>, in the January 15, 1910 The Outlook, the au=
thor included an overheard transmission between amateur stations asking "Sa=
y, do you know the fellow who is putting up a new station out your way? I t=
hink he is a ham." However, "ham" took a while to completely lose its negat=
ive connotations. A letter from Western Union employee W. L. Matteson in th=
e December, 1919 issue of QST, Why is an Amateur?<https://earlyradiohistory=
.us/1919why.htm>, complained that amateurs, now regulated by the government=
, were not getting the respect they deserved, noting that "Many unknowing l=
and wire telegraphers, hearing the word 'amateur' applied to men connected =
with wireless, regard him as a 'ham' or 'lid'." But in the next month's iss=
ue, Thomas Hunter's exuberant "pome", I am the Wandering Ham<https://earlyr=
adiohistory.us/1920pome.htm>, showed that other amateurs had already embrac=
ed "ham" as a friendly description for their fellow hobbyists.



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