Unicode (1889)

https://archive.org/details/unicodeuniversa00unkngoog

by polm23 • 6 years ago

63 23 6 years ago

gps0• 6 years ago

To decipher this message refer to the Unicode . . . . . Unicode

I wonder what the purpose of this cypher word is. So that if someone doesn't know about Unicode, they find out what it is by checking what each word means?

usrusr• 6 years ago

Remember all those little two-letter abbreviations when 140 character SMS were dominating all remote communication, and those messages were still expansive? "Code" like that quickly establishes itself in narrow text communication and apparently the desire to make a quick buck by selling a "reference manual" isn't new either. My guess (from looking no further than the title I have to admit) is that this is a legitimate predecessor to stuff like this https://www.amazon.com/Text-Message-Abbreviations-Reference-... or https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/1467999466

In this case, the author(s) sure had a hand for wording!

kristopolous• 6 years ago

Telegraphs charged by the word, a lot

"In 1860, for example, a ten-word telegram sent from New York to New Orleans cost $2.70 (about $65 in 2012 currency). When the transcontinental telegraph opened, the cost was $7.40 for ten words (about $210), while a ten word transatlantic message to England cost $100 (about $2,600)."

https://newatlas.com/last-telegraph-message/28314/

That's why in those old movies and plays everyone always looked dreadfully concerned about making sure someone got their telegraph message, that thing was pricey.

dTal• 6 years ago

Incredible that it's cheaper now to physically travel across the Atlantic and deliver your 10 word message in person, all expenses paid, than it was to send it by wire.

patrec3• 6 years ago

I wonder whether anyone ever used one of the many tasteful words-are-money-saving options under the Births Section (and if so, how the recipient felt about it):

    Confined this morning, Boy, both doing well    -> Ampulla
    Confined this morning, Boy dead, Mother weak   -> Amygdala
    [...]
    Confined to-day. Twins, one alive, a girl. Mother not expected to live -> Angina 
    Confined to-day. Twins, both dead, Mother well   -> Anguifer
    [...]

_Microft3• 6 years ago

I would expect the sad answer is that these outcomes were common enough to warrant an entry in the list.

patrec3• 6 years ago

Is there any evidence this book ever saw widespread use or are we looking at the 19th century equivalent of one of these extremely money saving inventions of late 20th century tele-shopping? Even if general-audience coding schemes like this enjoyed some popularity (I do not know but am rather doubtful), it does not mean that everything in such a book saw usage. Did people employ a code word to save a fraction of a pound on placing a 4000 pound lay bet (another example) at presumably greatly increased risk of the bet getting cocked up completely or to concisely inform the family that whilst the mother was a goner but at least the female baby twin survived? It would be fascinating if they did, but maybe a bit of scepticism is in order.

dash22• 6 years ago

Oh, this is fun. Nuribus natatio nitraria pacator filum!

_Microft3• 6 years ago

That's ... a booty call with a bit of a back story?

_Microft3• 6 years ago

Here's the decoded text:

Nuribus: "Mistake has been discovered and rectified."

natatio: "Marriage has been postponed indefinitely."

nitraria: "Can you meet me as suggested?"

pacator: "This communication is strictly private."

filum!: "Reserve a double-bedded room for tonight!"

dash22• 6 years ago

All the code words are Latin, which gives a bit of context for one of the famous one-word telegrams of the 19th century. After conquering the Indian province of Sindh, Charles Napier sent back "peccavi" (I have sinned).

jfk134• 6 years ago

Except that apparently he didn't actually send it, at least according to this account: http://www.historyworld.net/Articles/PlainTextArticles.asp?a...

gerikson• 6 years ago

"Thanks" for exploding this myth, that I've thought true for decades....

Arcorann2• 6 years ago

Looking at the "similar items" list gives us quite a number of competing schemes for coding words. The "Anglo-American telegraphic code" in particular seems to have gone all out -- it's 500 pages long, four times the length of "Unicode", with over 27000 code words.

kichik• 6 years ago

My grandfather also had a Unicode of his own back in the 1970s. It was a physics unifying language.

http://www.lacikam.co.il/j/index.php/unicode/intro http://www.lacikam.co.il/unicode/pub/patent/patent-book-OCR....

The original book is in germany, but I think an English translation is available somewhere.

Unicode (1889)

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