Telegrams and TV/Movies

[Trekker4747]

Whenever someone reads a telegram on TV or in a movie they always read the "STOP" part of the telegram, a word that's in there more to denote the end of a sentence than a word, it's like a period. Why does the reader read this? Shouldn't a scan-ahead of the telegram tell them that's not a word in the telegram's body but just the "period?"

 

[scotpens]

Whenever someone reads a telegram on TV or in a movie they always read the "STOP" part of the telegram, a word that's in there more to denote the end of a sentence than a word, it's like a period. Why does the reader read this? Shouldn't a scan-ahead of the telegram tell them that's not a word in the telegram's body but just the "period?"

You must watch a lot of old movies.

As for the convention of reading the word “stop” aloud, well, that’s a good question. Maybe it was done for comic effect, as in this exchange from the 1935 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers vehicle Top Hat:

“ ‘Come ahead. Stop. Stop being a sap. Stop. You can even bring Alberto. Stop. My husband is stopping at your hotel. Stop. When do you start. Stop.’ I cannot understand who wrote this.”

“Sounds like Gertrude Stein!”

 

[Amaris]

It adds a sense of urgency and importance to the scene.

 

[RJDiogenes]

And comedy. Don't forget Tuvok and Paris.

 

[Spot's Meow]

It's also used to show how quaint telegrams are compared to our "superior" technology today. "They were so silly back then they put in a whole word instead of just using a period!"

 

[{ Emilia }]

That's so true. Period.

 

[DarthTom]

Whenever someone reads a telegram on TV or in a movie they always read the "STOP" part of the telegram, a word that's in there more to denote the end of a sentence than a word, it's like a period. Why does the reader read this? Shouldn't a scan-ahead of the telegram tell them that's not a word in the telegram's body but just the "period?"

I don't know why they said it but here is why they used the word. Fascinating stuff - thanks for making me look it up. I was curious.

MSNBC

Telegrams reached their peak popularity in the 1920s and 1930s when it was cheaper to send a telegram than to place a long-distance telephone call. People would save money by using the word “stop” instead of periods to end sentences because punctuation was extra while the four character word was free.

 

[Holdfast]

"Take down a telegram, Bob.

To Mr. Charlie Chaplin, Sennet Studios, Hollywood, California. Congrats stop. Have found only person in world less funny than you stop. Name Baldrick stop. Signed E. Blackadder stop.

Oh, and put a P.S.: please, please, please stop."

 

[Owain Taggart]

I've always thought it was because it was easier to say than to show, so that you'd immediately know it was a telegram.