The More You Know ★
Out of context: Reply #522
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- grafician0
"The first words sent by tachygraphe (optical telegraph, or Chappe telegraph), by Claude Chappe, 1791: If you succeed, you will bask in glory.
The first words sent by electrical telegraph, by Samuel Morse, 1844: What hath God wrought! – however, this was the first telegraph using the repeater system. The actual first message, on the demonstration system, was sent with no repeaters, for just 2 miles, and was received by Samuel Morse but was sent by Alfred Vail in 1838: A patient waiter is no loser.
The first words spoken on the telephone, by Alexander Graham Bell, 1876: Mr. Watson – Come here – I want to see you.
The first characters sent on ARPANET, the predecessor to the internet, by Charley Kline, 1969: lo – for “login,” but it crashed.
The first words sent by text message (SMS), by Neil Papworth, 1992: merry Christmas
Here’s a good one, from this BBC article on various first words. The first words spoken on YouTube, 2005: Alright, so here we are in front of the elephants.
Related: fictional first words spoken on Mars, a list. The one I always remember is from Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, the words of John Boone, 2020: Well, here we are.
Strangely similar to YouTube. Though no elephants."