The other evening I was having a converstaion with my mom. She ended the conversation with the saying "That's 30 for tonight." I told her that I had never heard that before. What did it mean? She said that she remembered it from radio days. The news broadcast "The Richfield Reporter" would always close with "That's 30 for tonight."
We talked about possible meanings and then she said, "You are always looking for topics for your blog, why don't you look it up and add it to that?" Thanks mom! I will do just that.
The symbol "-30-" if often typed at the bottom of a reporter's article. It has been used by journalists for years although many no longer use it, and most probably don't even know what it means.
The Language Log Blog had also taken on this search. Their findings were not conclusive, but they did offer the following explanations:
1. In the American West, dispatches were delivered from the telegraph office to the newspaper. The telegraph office closed at 3am. And so the operator would write at the end of the last dispatch “3 o’clock”—which became “3o’c”, and then “3o”, and finally “30”.
2. Telegraph operators would mark the end of their transmissions with “xxx”—later misread as the Roman numeral for thirty.
3. Handwritten newspaper stories used “x” to mark the end of a sentence, “xx” to mark the end of a paragraph, and “xxx” to mark the end of the story.
4. 30 ems was the maximum length of a line typeset on a linotype machine and so “30” came to designate end of line, and subsequently, end of story.
5. The Associated Press initially allowed their member papers only thirty telegrams a day. The last of the daily quota was labelled “30”.
6. Press wires closed half past the hour, or thirty minutes past the hour.
7. The end of the reign of the “thirty tyrants” appointed by the Spartans at the close of the Pelopennesian War to rule Athens was an occasion of great rejoicing. As is the end of a story—“30”.
8. In Bengali, “so” means farewell. A report of the East India Company misprinted this as “30”.
9. Telegraph operator number 30 stayed at his post reporting news of some disaster and Death supervened.
10. A reference to the thiry pieces of silver that led to Jesus’ death.
I had no idea how fascinating this search would be. One of those little tidbits of history that need to be remembered.
If you have other ideas on the origins of the "-30-" symbol please inform us. We would love to here from you.
Ted
Life's A Banquet, Grab A Big Slice
-30-
Comments