I've been reading a good, though sometimes a bit tedious, biography of Amelia Earhart by Mary Lovell ("The Sound of Wings"). In the author's attempt to be accurate, throughout the book she includes actual texts from wired telegrams. While they don't include the the texting abbreviations we see, they sure remind me of texting. Here is just one example (all such messages were written in all caps):

BEG CHIEF NOT WORRY SHIP OK DECREASING LOAD HAVE ANNOUNCED OUR PLANS UNINFLUENCED COMPETITION MUST PROCEED PATIENTLY.

Back then one paid for each character, so brevity was economy.

In the UK (and probably elsewhere) this kind of langauge was referred to as "Telegraphese". As Geoff states, is was because of the way in which telegrams were charged for.

Indeed, there was a dictionary of travel industry abbreviations to be used when sending a telegram to request accommodation - sadly I don't now have a copy. Plus all major companies had a unique telegraphic address whic could be used when adressing telegrams to them and this, too, saved character cost.

I remember that Thomas Cook's telegraphic address was "Cookbook, London" - which saved writing "Thomas Cook, Berkeley Square, London, England".

Many companies during the 30s had code books similar to military types which had various letter combinations which stood for entire sentences. Thus JAB could stand for "Don't forget to bribe the Prime Minister", or similar instructions.

Back in my service days, if I was coming home on a pass, I'd engage in a subterfuge many other servicemen had used. I'd call home collect person-to-person asking for a fictitious person whose name stood for my means of travel, so my parents would know where to pick me up. They'd say he wasn't available but the message got through.

Back then one paid for each character, so brevity was economy.

Still is. SMS messages are limited to 180 characters, and one pays per text. Of course, those who txt a whole bunch can buy contracts to pay for a fixed number of texts per month, whether one uses them or not. It would be interesting to see if contemporary newspaper article alleged that telegraph-speak was going to lead to verbal anarchy.

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It would be interesting to see if contemporary newspaper article alleged that telegraph-speak was going to lead to verbal anarchy.

I hadn't thought of that, but you are so right. Good point! I have had a hard time sometimes deciphering those telegrams, that's for sure.