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

Mon Dec 26 14:39:35 UTC 2022

1898 Buffalo [N.Y.] Times (Sept. 10) 6: Every knock is not a boost in all
cases.

JL

On Sun, Dec 25, 2022 at 9:14 PM George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
wrote:

> I notice that the poem Fred sent us to document "ham" opens with the lines
> I am the wandering Ham.
> I know no home, I know no roost.
> To me each knock is one more boost.
>
> This seems to be an instance of another way of expressing the thought
> "there's no such thing as bad publicity".
>
> In 2001, it seems, I took part in a discussion here of that expression.  At
> that time, I wrote
> "This is one of those expressions that are so highly variable in form that
> they
> are very difficult to trace.  I associate it with show business, and in
> that
> racket, publicity is always good.  The expression can be phrased either as
> an
> affirmative or a negative: "there's no such thing as bad publicity" (or a
> variant) as opposed to "all publicity is good publicity" / "every knock is
> a
> boost" (or other variants).
>
> I remember, c. 1970, Sam Silverman, a boxing promoter based in Boston,
> being quoted as saying "every knock is a boost", and I rather doubt that he
> was coining the phrase.
>
> GAT
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 12:00 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > See also the Wikipedia entry for "etymology of ham radio," which includes
> > cites for the telegraphic kind of "ham operator" back to 1881:
> >
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wikipedia.org_wiki_Etymology-5Fof-5Fham-5Fradio&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=XQK-vn2suIwWn6CmpI3g-5Mrk1AMPxZzVrOfxLyyIj0&e=
> >
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.newspapers.com_clip_49016206_a-2Dtalk-2Dwith-2Da-2Dtelegrapher-2Dabout_&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=6mOYudN4Rer7sb3RM-mUCEgZxzcFTikyS74N8HtYtd4&e=
> > "KNIGHTS OF THE KEY. A Talk With a Telegrapher About Impending Troubles
> --
> > Will They Strike?"
> > Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 27, 1881, p. 4, col. 1
> > "Reporter -- Would a strike be successful? 'I believe if it becomes
> > necessary it will succeed. The only point we have to contend with is
> 'ham'
> > operators, -- men without ability to break stone on a road, who float
> into
> > the service, under the head of cheap labor and lose more money to the
> > company by making blunders than they can make in five years.' "
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 8:56 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > 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 example. Wire-line telegraphy employees at this time had a rich
> > > vocabulary of insults for describing less-than-capable operators, and
> in
> > > The Slang of the Wire<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__earlyradiohistory.us_1902slng.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=p1TILWNMGbu_hijKT83Go3ZoAVrspJY52taJtboMrso&e=
> > > section
> > > of "Telegraph Talk 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 because the sound of their dots and dashes suggests the
> > > epithets." Hall's review further noted that "senders of hog-Morse,
> called
> > > technically 'hams' " were known for their propensity for transmitting
> > > garbled Morse code. So it was natural, in light of wire-telegraph
> > practice,
> > > for commercial stations to dismiss amateur radio operators as
> "hams"--and
> > > in Floods and Wireless<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__earlyradiohistory.us_1915ama.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=rlK0jpaQn_ml5XdRDNutm0RytThnwzS5AFM458Q_44E&e=
> > > by Hanby
> > > Carver from the August, 1915 Technical World Magazine the author noted
> > > "Then someone thought of the 'hams'. This is the name that the
> commercial
> > > wireless service has given to amateur operators..."
> > >
> > > But, interestingly, "ham" would eventually lose its negative meaning
> and
> > > become a general nickname for all amateurs. This evolution was spotty
> and
> > > not very well documented. As early as the May, 1909 Wireless Registry<
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__earlyradiohistory.us_1909wr2.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=5VUXNdx3zSe3ccTtjuu1Q33an6_kNNu69ZJ17N7GkSQ&e=
> > > list in Modern Electrics, Earl
> > > C. Hawkins of Minneapolis, Minnesota was listed with the callsign of
> > > "H.A.M." This callsign was likely assigned by the magazine -- this was
> > > before the U.S. government began licencing stations and issuing
> callsigns
> > > -- but was this an inside joke or just a coincidence? In two articles
> by
> > > Robert A. Morton, Wireless Interference<
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__earlyradiohistory.us_1909ama.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=8eOUmZrfhnQVXzKfHUTtDlOY1_JI65CNJ92YZYrDEUg&e=
> > >, in the April, 1909 Electrician
> > > and Mechanic, and The Amateur Wireless Operator<
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__earlyradiohistory.us_1910ama.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=xj4HWQm0PoQaKIV4-Tk4Hpjky0dWJXW7VS9s6VFWkAQ&e=
> > >, in the January 15, 1910 The
> > > Outlook, the author included an overheard transmission between amateur
> > > stations asking "Say, do you know the fellow who is putting up a new
> > > station out your way? I think he is a ham." However, "ham" took a while
> > to
> > > completely lose its negative connotations. A letter from Western Union
> > > employee W. L. Matteson in the December, 1919 issue of QST, Why is an
> > > Amateur?<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__earlyradiohistory.us_1919why.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=I0BK_87eXPPoGEIUT5JV4uH-9sh33NDXVTGt1W1QtLI&e=
> > >, complained that
> > > amateurs, now regulated by the government, were not getting the respect
> > > they deserved, noting that "Many unknowing land 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 issue, Thomas Hunter's
> exuberant
> > > "pome", I am the Wandering Ham<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__earlyradiohistory.us_1920pome.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=P1yxL4jCu6ufAn4gObB7WI6OV9O18-csriZXbRYk3h4&e=
> > >,
> > > showed that other amateurs had already embraced "ham" as a friendly
> > > description for their fellow hobbyists.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society -
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=JvxHGJyyTopfBU7rnqKSum0E-8EImzCsamlOpbWDU6wcbyumZEUNwj-kE2rchX9M&s=GSCjcdUW4zTLzSvx7ABE2XIa3dB8ZF68V6NqlbSuMYg&e=
> >
>
>
> --
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998.
>
> But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
> your lowly tomb. . .
> L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112
>
> The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool.  (Here's a
> picture of his great-grandfather.)
>
> http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-gillray/an-excrescence---a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-a-dunghill/3851
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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