Hansen's Telegraphic Code Book
From Wild Southwest Wiki
Hansen's Telegraphic Code Book is a popular book of short codes, widely used to save money on telegrams. It was first published in 2069 and has been revised numerous times since.
Contents |
Publication History
The book was conceived in 2065 by a Walpole Telegraph Company operator named Gregory Hansen. In the course of his work sending and transcribing messages he noticed that many telegrams were repeats, sending fundamentally the same messages over and over. He reasoned that time on the telegraph lines could be conserved by setting up a standardised system of codes - sending not the exact words of the message, but its meaning.
He took this idea to his superiors but was rebuffed (they saw little promise in an idea that would allow customers to send messages more cheaply). Rather than abandon it, he began work on a code system in his spare time, completing the first version in 2069.
Hansen paid for the printing of 200 copies of the codebook from his own savings. To promote the project he sent two gratis copies to the head offices of the six heaviest users of the telegraph system in both Walpole and Manjimup. The buzz generated by this move (and the savings reported by the companies who took up the codes) led to the rest of the run selling out in short order, providing enough funds for a larger second printing. These also sold quickly, providing Hansen with a comfortable income (fortunate as he was fired from the Telegraph company shortly afterwards).
Foreseeing that demand for the book would eventually fall off, Hansen issued a substantially revised second edition in 2071. This expanded both the number of codes and the areas covered - introducing the persistantly popular "affairs of the heart" chapter. It was also published on flimsier paper, obstentiously to reduce costs and weight (although it has often been alleged that it was intended to increase vulnerability to wear and tear, requiring a new purchase every few years).
In 2074 Hansen approached the board of the newly created Southern Union and attempted to sell them all rights to the code book for an undisclosed sum. They refused, however Hansen capitalised on the merger by releasing a third edition branded as the "Southern Union" version. In the mood of celebration surrounding the creation of the company this edition sold extremely well - despite Southern Union's efforts to the contrary.
The fourth edition was released in 2082. This was the first edition not to be personally supervised by Hansen who unexpectedly died from pneumonia in 2079. A fifth edition - the current edition - was released in 2092.
There are a number of rival publications to Hansen's Codes, however none has achieved the same level of popularity. A "Hansen's" is considered vital for any business person, and a copy can be found in most houses throughout the Southwest.
Methodology
The codebook is divided into six chapters (Business Affairs, Family Matters, Affairs of the Heart, Journalism, Agriculture, Additional Codes), each containing a list of codes corresponding to a short phrase. To avoid confusion and mis-keying all the codes are ordinary English words, five letter words for every chapter except 'Additional Codes' which has a mix of three, four and five letters. All the codes in a given chapter begin with the same letter ('A' for Business Affairs, 'E' for Family Matters, 'T' for Affairs of the Heart, 'N' for Journalism, 'O' for Agriculture, and 'S' and 'T' for Additional Codes), and each chapter has between 40 and 70 codes (120 for 'Additional Codes').
To send a message, the sender looks up the appropriate phrase and it's associated code. This is telegraphed to the receiver, who then looks up the code in their copy of the book and finds the phrase.
(Prior to the third edition of the codebook entries were arranged by phrase only. This made looking up received codes time consuming, and it became common practice to append the page number where the phrase could be found to the code. The third edition included a full index, rendering this step unnecessary.)
Reducing a sentence of thirty to fifty letters down to only five can result in substantial savings when sending large numbers of telegrams.
Example Codes
- Business Affairs
- ABOVE - Sell all stock at once
- ALIGN - Reject the offer
- APPLY - Close the deal at any cost
- ASIAN - Take no further action until I arrive
- Family Matters
- EGYPT - It's a boy
- ELLIS - Return home as soon as possible
- ENTRY - Send money
- ERATA - Your good wishes are appreciated
- Affairs of the Heart
- TASER - We are discovered!
- TAXON - You are the only one for me
- TEETH - I miss you
- TENTH - I do not wish to see you again
- Journalism
- NAMES - Hold the front page
- NAVEL - Interview secured
- NEWLY - Article will be delayed
- NOVEL - Article to follow
- Agriculture
- OPIUM - Stock have been purchased
- OPTIC - Crops damaged by hail
- ORDER - Crops have been planted
- OTHER - Will harvest this week
- Additional Codes
- SET - Yes
- TEN - No
- SEAL - Monday
- TORCH - January
- TAKE - Mother
- SAND - Horse
Example of Use
"12 aurochs escaped Tuesday, not yet recaptured" could be encoded as "OPERA SAIL 12 SACK TOLL", which decodes as "Stock have escaped, Tuesday, 12 aurochs, problem not resolved". This provides a clear and unambiguous message in only 23 letters.
Game Rules
A copy of Hansen's usually costs about $6. A five letter code can be found for any sentence of six or less words containing no words of more than three syllables and no proper nouns. Unusual or obscure words may be disallowed at the Game Master's discretion.
