TELEGRAM, TELEGRAPH sign language

These days, you own a phone and you can send a text right away directly to someone who has a phone. Telegraph in the old days is like you go to the telegraph office and ask a clerk to send a text (telegram). At the other end, the clerk receives the "text" or telegram, prints it out or writes down, and delivers to the receiver. A blessing for the mobile phones in our own times. :)

ASL signs for "telegraph"

How to sign "telegram", "telegraph" in American Sign Language (ASL)? A few possible variations include one from 1913!

Meaning: A message sent by telegraph and then delivered in written or printed form.

This sign doesn't refer to the name of the modern app. It's the old-day telegram.

The excerpted clip (04:25) from the 1913 film "Dom Pedro's Visit to Gallaudet College" shows American hearing narrator Edward Allen Fay (1843-1923) signing "telegraphed". Ref

Pronunciation (sign description): Fingertip of dominant curved index finger taps a few times on non-dominant forefinger.

Vocabulary

Related signs: TELEPHONE, TELETYPER.

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