Interesting People mailing list archives

Western Union case


From: barney () databus com <barney () databus com>
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 93 22:54:18 -0400



The famous nineteenth-century suit on data integrity in a cablegram has some
amusing as well as instructive aspects.  I used to consult for them, and this
is how the legend came down over the decades:

Seems a rich American sent an agent over to Europe to buy a painting.  The
agent cabled back the asking price, which was outrageously high.  The
American sent back "No, price too high."  But of course, punctuation was not
carried in Morse code, so the cable as sent read "No price too high" ...

 Barney Wolff, Pres.                     Voice:     914-591-6572
 Databus Inc.                            Fax:       914-591-5677
 15 Victor Drive                         Internet:  barney () databus com
 Irvington, NY 10533-1919 USA            "At the corner of database & datacomm"


Current thread: