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Outcasted_introvert t1_iucru0t wrote

Reply to comment by Target880 in ELI5: Morse code is made up of dots and dashes. How did telegraph operators keep from losing track of where one letter ended and another began? by copperdomebodhi

I guess with practice they learnt to do it naturally, like listening to speech. When we listen to someone talk, we can distinguish between syllables within a word or in separate words.

Edit: usually. I have poor hearing and I just realised that part of the problem is words blending into each other.

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Cane-Dewey t1_iudf3z1 wrote

My dad sent and received Morse Code for the Air Force back in the 60s. He'll still hear random beeps and hear letters/words/phrases out of them. It's definitely like hearing a second language he says.

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okt127 t1_iudpp1f wrote

This would be a good r/writingprompt idea. A person who hears and learns world secret through electronic beeps everywhere. Highly sought after by the MI6 and the CIA for his rare ability. LoL

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Supraspinator t1_iuehpxm wrote

Same for my grandpa. He was a radio operator in WW2 as a very young man. One year in the 90s we got Walkie-Talkies for Christmas and he fired off a full paragraph of text.

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powelly t1_iudtj25 wrote

Apparently radio operators could identify different people by their “accents”.

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ntilley905 t1_iuduay8 wrote

Yep, it’s called a fist. In the r/AmateurRadio world we still use Morse code sometimes and I can usually identify someone based on their fist before they’ve fully identified themselves if it’s someone I talk to a lot.

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bullevard t1_iudyf99 wrote

It is so interesting what we have idiosyncrasies in. I remember playing soccer growing up and when i arrived at practice i could tell from the parking lot who was here from a distance awqy because i could recognize people's walks and runs before being close enough to make out their faces.

It's fascinating that that would even come across in the tiny, highly constrained motion of just tapping out code.

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koombot t1_iuds8bl wrote

My mother worked in a radio station listening to Morse transmissions during the cold war. She is fluent in hearing and transcribing Morse code, but only going from Morse to letters/numbers, she can't go the other way.

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bullevard t1_iudypqj wrote

Yup. If you look at a sound pattern of a native speaker speaking you can't usually tell the breaks between words. It is something of a continuous wave pattern. Our brain is doing the hard work of parsing into words.

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