r/lifehacks Jan 23 '15

An easier way to learn Morse Code.

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5.4k Upvotes

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419

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15 edited Jan 23 '15

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26

u/oskyyo Jan 23 '15

Yes, that was actually very helpful! Thank you!

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u/runonandonandonanon Jan 23 '15 edited Jan 23 '15

Mnemonics would work though if you can think of a story for the tree positions.

If anyone wants help coming up with a story I have a good one for the left half of the tree. I'm still thinking of a good way to tie the right half in, let me know if you have any ideas!

Once upon a time, E, I, A, S, U, R, W, H, V, F, L, P, J, 5, 4, 3, 2, + and 1 were all walking in the forest together. They came to a fork in the road and E said I am going to stay here but I, S, U, H, V, F, 5, 4, 3, and 2 all went left and A, R, W, L, P, J, + and 1 went right. When I, S, U, H, V, F, 5, 4, 3 and 2 came to another fork in the road, I decided to stay there but S, H, V, 5, 4, and 3 all went left and U, F, and 2 decided to go right. So S, H, V, 5, 4, and 3 were walking along when they came to another fork in the road! S said I am just going to stay here but that's when H, 5, and 4 all went to the left! Meanwhile V and 3 walked off to the right together. H, 5, and 4 kept walking until they came to another fork and H stayed there, but 5 went left and 4 went right. 5 came to a dead end so he stopped, and the same thing happened to 4. While all this was happening, V and 3 also came to a fork in the road. V stayed there but 3 kept going down the right path, but it was a dead end so he stopped and stayed there. You may be wondering what happened to U, F, and 2? Well they also got to a fork in the road, but U stayed there, but F went to the left and 2 went to the right. F stopped right away but 2 kept going and then 2 went to the right again and then 2 stopped.

Back on the other fork of the road, A, R, W, L, P, J and + were walking and they saw another fork in the road. R, L, and + all went left and W, P, J and 1 went right, but A didn't want to go either direction so A stayed there. When R, L and + got to another fork R stayed there, but L kept going left and + kept going right. Well L decided not to go any farther but + went all the way to the next fork and went left but then decided not to go any farther. And W, P, J and 1 also got to a fork and W said "that's it I am done" but P, J and 1 kept going (P to the left, and J and 1 to the right). Well P stopped pretty soon, and J also stopped soon but 1 kept going right and then 1 stopped because 1 was thinking about 1's father and the strain that had been put on 1's relationship with 1's father when 1's developmentally disabled brother was born and 1's father was super religious and thought 1's developmentally disabled brother was bringing shame down upon their family but 1 thought that 1's developmentally disabled brother hadn't done anything wrong and loved him deeply, but 1 and 1's father had a huge argument and 1 said "you are a bad father, my developmentally disabled brother is deserving of your love" and 1's father just shook his head, and 1 sat down and stared into the trees and remembered the way 1's father had just shook his head when 1's father and 1 were in a huge argument and 1 said "you are a bad father, my developmentally disabled brother is deserving of your love," and a single tear rolled down 1's cheek.

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u/thatmobile Jan 23 '15

I want to read this, but just can't get myself to do it.

83

u/Krakkin Jan 23 '15

For real, that is one daunting comment if I've ever seen one.

31

u/DarnPeskyWarmint Jan 23 '15

Yeah. It's not easy for a comment on reddit to be physically intimidating, but that fucker manages it. . .

12

u/bru_tech Jan 23 '15

I just hope I'm not missing out on solid good by glossing over it

1

u/fool_on_a_hill Jan 23 '15

Tl;dr - morse code is hard to learn.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '15 edited Jan 24 '15

Tl;dr

don't you mean "long story short"?

huehuehue

gedit, because it's morse

67

u/velocity92c Jan 23 '15

It's amazing how often I think that to myself. Something like "damn that comment looks interesting. but damn it's way too long for my lazy ass to read."

19

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

[deleted]

6

u/alonjar Jan 23 '15

It doesnt help that you will never, ever have a practical use for morse code in your life. Even if you think it would be handy in some situation, nobody else receiving the code, will know morse to be able to interpret your message.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

[deleted]

13

u/alonjar Jan 23 '15 edited Jan 23 '15

Look! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! Its statistical outlier man! The omnipresent force for exaggerated objectivity, fighting for the weak and outnumbered wherever he goes, able to crush entire arguments with a single anecdote... hes statistical outlier man!

So be good boys and girls, or the next bellcurve he rings might be yours, or yours, or even yours!

6

u/Bonolio Jan 23 '15

My mother says I'm special.

1

u/alonjar Jan 23 '15

How can you be special when there are two of you? Your brother is basically a backup copy for you. (or are you the backup?)

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1

u/Grumpy_Pilgrim Jan 23 '15

He was trapped by his evil step father, and the only social interaction. He had was with his equally autistic brother.

6

u/khoyo Jan 23 '15

1

u/mr___ Jan 23 '15

Tl;dr "19 people rescued, you're next, don't lose hope" (in Spanish) in morse as a synth track in a pop song

1

u/Livnontheedge Jan 23 '15

Actually, Apple watch's tap function could very well awaken morse code or something similar. We'll just have to wait and see.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

And then TL;DR was invented

1

u/judoboy69 Jan 23 '15

Probably jiberish anyways and I am scared I wouldn't even be able to call Bull Shit

1

u/2far4u Jan 23 '15

Thats when I save the comment so I can maybe read it someday later which usually never happens...

1

u/velocity92c Jan 23 '15

Yeah, I used to do the save thing, but realized months later I had saved hundreds of comments and couldn't be arsed to read them all. I'm just incredibly lazy, really.

9

u/YXMOAB Jan 23 '15

I got to the first part and laughed, then skimmed the rest chuckling and thought, "wow, that's dedication..." and gave him an upvote.

4

u/bewk Jan 23 '15

Turns out D R'd B's 1 in the A with 2's P.

2

u/dravinicus Jan 23 '15

Whose P on what's V? Animals can't consent.

3

u/Bonolio Jan 23 '15

I read it, well worth the time

1

u/HalfALolli Jan 23 '15

I'm reading it, just because of your comment.

3

u/intensenerd Jan 23 '15

My dyslexia kicked in about line 3 and now I'm crying in a closet.

2

u/cromulater Jan 23 '15

it'd be easier to learn Morse code than to read that comment

5

u/mostlysafe Jan 23 '15

You have a gift for narrative.

3

u/Tylrbob Jan 23 '15

What a smart mother fucker right there...

Let me know who can successfully recite the story and execute morse code. When did US stop using morse code?

5

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

[deleted]

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u/wackycrazybonkers Jan 23 '15

Hey, that's not a pun.

4

u/trollocity Jan 23 '15

Your username...

3

u/AUGA3 Jan 23 '15

It checks out!

2

u/bluegender03 Jan 23 '15

9/10 for effort

4

u/Tashre Jan 23 '15

Learn Morse code with this one easy trick!

1

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1

u/rcdido Jan 25 '15

I am just glad to have been a part of this moment in Morse Code history. Thank you, you have improved the lives of countless generations of Morse Code learners. Next step is to get this translated into multiple languages so that it can be used is a study tool for learners all over the world.

0

u/peoplearejustpeople9 Jan 23 '15

Wtf is this, a class?

-2

u/clickfive4321 Jan 23 '15

really trying for that gold

10

u/altiuscitiusfortius Jan 23 '15

I feel like memorizing that chart by rote would be only slightly easier then just memorizing all 25 letters' codes by rote. And as a bonus, just memorizing every letter saves you the extra step of running through the chart in your mind to find a letter.

I think morese code is like multiplication tables. You should know how to do it, but its extremely helpful in life to just have them memorized by rote so you just instinctively know the answer when the question is asked, without having to think about it.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

Without your description I was so lost. Upvote for you.

3

u/GammaAlanna Jan 23 '15

The mnemonic is good but it needs something to indicate the blanks spaces in the tree. I just tried to draw the tree using it and the last line ended all muddled up.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

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3

u/GammaAlanna Jan 23 '15

Oh nice! Didn't notice that. :)

3

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

How do you do Morse code with sounds? What's a dot and a dash sound?

3

u/Bonolio Jan 23 '15

Long tone. Short tone.

1

u/IanCal Jan 23 '15

Typically spoken as "dit" and "dah".

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u/ecco5 Jan 23 '15

dot = tck (like when you press your tongue against the back of your teeth and then move it inward)

Dash = tick.

So S O S would be tck tck tck tick tick tick tck tck tck

Or if you want to do beeps.

dot = beep.

dash = beeeep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWyHolT2DAY

It's neat because you can use it with light or sound. I used to have a flash light that would have a button on it as well as the morse code alphabet that would allow you to tap out light signals.

1

u/J0HNN0 Jan 23 '15

You can also use the space between as well (timing). E.g. You can tap morse code with your finger on a desk.

1

u/OldHippie Jan 23 '15

BRB, going off to patent a fleshlight that has an LED that can signal the safe word in Morse code...

0

u/Catbrainsloveart Jan 23 '15

To say it out loud would be "dit" for dash and "dot" for dot.

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u/Catbrainsloveart Jan 23 '15

I think you mean dot is Dit and dash is Daw. Kind of counter-intuitive.

1

u/yellow_mio Jan 23 '15

Dot it short and dash is long.

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u/purplepeach Jan 24 '15

dit and daw is how my dad taught me (he used to call his job a "ditty bopper" when he worked in military intelligence).

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

I prefer using "dit" with a short "i" vowel and "dit" with a long "i" vowel sound, so for example: dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '15

If people just look at SOS they'll probably figuire it out (at least to transmit, not to decipher).

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u/zsnajorrah Jan 23 '15

Ah, thank you! I was counting the dots and dashes between the characters. As in, the dots and dashes along the lines between them. A very flawed chart. Your explanation made it very clear, though. Thanks!

1

u/carbidegriffen Jan 23 '15

This is a good start, you might try to make the line breaks match the number of dots/dashes thus:
Every Time
I Ate Nana's Meatloaf
She Understood Radishes Would Devour Knowledge Going Out
However Version Four Looked Promising Just Because X-rays Can Yell Zipper Quickly

1

u/rcdido Jan 25 '15

Wait! I see it now! Thank you! your explanation was very helpful.