# Telegram

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Message sent through telegraphy

For the instant messaging service, see [Telegram (software)](/source/Telegram_(software%2C_linked_from_hatnote)). For other uses, see [Telegram (disambiguation)](/source/Telegram_(disambiguation)).

A **telegram** is a written or printed message, originally sent through [telegraphy](/source/Telegraphy). The use of the telegrams was popular for [social](/source/Social_communication) and [business correspondence](/source/Business_correspondence) in the latter half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Even in the [telephone](/source/Telephone) age, the telegram remained popular, and spawned its own style of writing that in turn persisted in other media. Telegram services still exist today, though the popularity has largely waned, replaced by other forms of [text communication](/source/Text_messaging).

[Western Union](/source/Western_Union_Telegraph_Company) telegram sent to President Dwight Eisenhower wishing him a speedy recovery from his heart attack on Sept 26, 1955

## Terminology

Initially, telegrams were sent by an [electrical telegraph](/source/Electrical_telegraph) operator or telegrapher using [Morse code](/source/Morse_code), or a [printing telegraph](/source/Printing_telegraph) operator using plain text. A **cablegram** was a message sent by a [submarine telegraph cable](/source/Submarine_telegraph_cable),[1] often shortened to "**cable**" or "**wire**".[2] The suffix -gram is derived from ancient Greek: γραμμα (*[gramma](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-gram#Ancient_Greek)*), meaning something written, i.e. telegram means something written at a distance and cablegram means something written via a cable, whereas telegraph implies the process of writing at a distance.

## Delivery services

See also: [Worldwide use of telegrams by country](/source/Worldwide_use_of_telegrams_by_country)

Western Union telegram (1930)

A telegram service is a company or public entity that delivers telegrams directly to the recipient. Telegram services were inaugurated after [electric telegraphy](/source/Electric_telegraph) became available.

Historically, telegrams were sent between a network of interconnected telegraph offices. A person visiting a local telegraph office paid by the word to have a message telegraphed to another office and delivered to the addressee on a paper form.[3] Messages (i.e. telegrams) sent by telegraph could be delivered by [telegraph messenger](/source/Telegraph_messenger) faster than mail.[4] The electric telegraph freed communication from the time constraints of [postal mail](/source/Postal_mail) and revolutionized society and the global economy.[5]

A decline that began with the growth of the use of the [telephone](/source/Telephone)[6] was briefly postponed by the rise of special occasion congratulatory telegrams. Traffic continued to grow between 1867 and 1893 despite the introduction of the telephone in this period.[7]

At their peak in 1929, an estimated 200 million telegrams were sent.[7]

In 1919, the Central Bureau for Registered Addresses was established in the [financial district](/source/Financial_District%2C_Manhattan) of [New York City](/source/New_York_City). The bureau was created to ease the growing problem of messages being delivered to the wrong recipients. To combat this issue, the bureau offered telegraph customers the option to register unique code names for their telegraph addresses. Customers were charged $2.50 per year per code. By 1934, 28,000 codes had been registered.[8][*[page needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)*]

Telegram services still operate in much of the world. However, [e-mail](/source/E-mail) and [text messaging](/source/Text_messaging) have rendered telegrams obsolete in many countries, and the number of telegrams sent annually has been declining rapidly since the 1980s.[9][*[page needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources)*] Where telegram services still exist, the transmission method between offices is no longer by telegraph, but by [telex](/source/Telex) or [IP](/source/Internet_Protocol) link.[10]

## Length and style

As telegrams have been traditionally charged by the word, messages were often abbreviated to pack information into the smallest possible number of words, in what came to be called "[telegram style](/source/Telegram_style)".

The average length of a telegram in the 1900s in the US was 11.93 words; more than half of the messages were 10 words or fewer.[11] According to another study, the mean length of the telegrams sent in the UK before 1950 was 14.6 words or 78.8 characters.[12] For German telegrams, the mean length is 11.5 words or 72.4 characters.[12] At the end of the 19th century, the average length of a German telegram was calculated as 14.2 words.[12]

## Derived uses

A [diplomatic telegram](/source/Diplomatic_telegram) is a confidential communication between a [diplomatic mission](/source/Diplomatic_mission) and the [foreign ministry](/source/Foreign_minister) of its parent country.[13][2] These continue to be called telegrams or cables regardless of the method used for transmission.

## See also

- [Familygram](/source/Familygram) – Personal message sent to submariners

- [Radiogram](/source/Radiogram_(message)) – Formal written message transmitted by radio

- [Singing telegram](/source/Singing_telegram) – Message delivered in song

- [Death notification telegram](/source/Death_notification_telegram) – Delivery of news of a deathPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

- [Telegram of condolence](/source/Telegram_of_condolence) – Expression of sympathyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

- [Datagram](/source/Datagram) – Basic data transfer unit associated with a packet-switched network

- [Instagram](/source/Instagram) – Social media platform owned by Meta

- [Telegram.org](/source/Telegram.org) – Cross-platform instant messaging servicePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Cablegram – Definition of cablegram by Merriam-Webster"](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cablegram). *merriam-webster.com*. 27 July 2023.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Macquarie_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Macquarie_2-1) Definition of "cable", *The Macquarie Dictionary* (3rd ed.). Australia: Macquarie Library. 1997. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-949757-89-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-949757-89-0). (n.) 4. a telegram sent abroad, especially by submarine cable. (v.) 9. to send a message by submarine cable.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPhillips2000276_3-0)** [Phillips 2000](#CITEREFPhillips2000), p. 276.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTESmith2015433_4-0)** [Smith 2015](#CITEREFSmith2015), p. 433.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEDowney20027_5-0)** [Downey 2002](#CITEREFDowney2002), p. 7.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEKieve1973253_6-0)** [Kieve 1973](#CITEREFKieve1973), p. 253.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPhillips2000274_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEPhillips2000274_7-1) [Phillips 2000](#CITEREFPhillips2000), p. 274.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGleick2011_8-0)** [Gleick 2011](#CITEREFGleick2011). sfn error: no target: CITEREFGleick2011 ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Harv_and_Sfn_template_errors))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEStandage2007_9-0)** [Standage 2007](#CITEREFStandage2007).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["TELEGRAM NOT DEAD. STOP"](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/06/telegram-not-dead-stop/). *Ars Technica*. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEHochfelder201279_11-0)** [Hochfelder 2012](#CITEREFHochfelder2012), p. 79.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFrehner2008187,_191_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFrehner2008187,_191_12-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFrehner2008187,_191_12-2) [Frehner 2008](#CITEREFFrehner2008), pp. 187, 191.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["1,796 memos from US embassy in Manila in WikiLeaks 'Cablegate'"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120927221008/http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/29/10/1796-memos-us-embassy-manila-wikileaks-cablegate). [ABS–CBN Corporation](/source/ABS%E2%80%93CBN_Corporation). 29 November 2010. Archived from [the original](http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/29/10/1796-memos-us-embassy-manila-wikileaks-cablegate) on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2010.

## Sources

- Downey, Gregory J. (2002). *Telegraph Messenger Boys: Labor, Technology, and Geography, 1850–1950*. New York and London: Routledge.

- Frehner, Carmen (2008). [*Email, SMS, MMS: The Linguistic Creativity of Asynchronous Discourse in the New Media Age*](https://books.google.com/books?id=wiVz8dDW8-cC&pg=PA191). Bern: Peter Lang AG. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-303911451-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-303911451-1).

- James, Gleick (2011). [*The information : a history, a theory, a flood*](http://worldcat.org/oclc/689998325). Books on Tape. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-307-91498-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-307-91498-9). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [689998325](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/689998325). Retrieved 2021-04-12.

- Hochfelder, David (2012). [*The Telegraph in America, 1832–1920*](https://books.google.com/books?id=fUDxx_bMVQUC&pg=PA79). The Johns Hopkins University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-42140747-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-42140747-0).

- Kieve, Jeffrey L. (1973). *The Electric Telegraph: A Social and Economic History*. David and Charles. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7153-5883-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7153-5883-9). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [655205099](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/655205099).

- Phillips, Ronnie J. (June 2000). ["Digital technology and institutional change from the gilded age to modern times: The impact of the telegraph and the internet"](https://web.archive.org/web/20200808010633/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00213624.2000.11506266). *Journal of Economic Issues*. **34** (2): 267–89. Archived from [the original](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00213624.2000.11506266) on 8 August 2020.

- Smith, Richard E. (2015). *Elementary Information Security*. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1284055949](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1284055949).

- Standage, Tom (2007). "Afterword". *The Victorian Internet*. Walker & Co. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-802-71879-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-802-71879-2).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Telegram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.