Telegram Etiquette

The telegram is regarded as a perfectly proper means of conveying condolence following the death in the family of a friend or acquaintance. And, of course, such a message of sympathy should never be conveyed by telephone message. When sending such, telegrams it is best to indicate that you wish to have them delivered by messenger rather than by telephone.

“Let no act be done at haphazard.” —Marcus Aurelius

A telegraphed message is always more formal and more courteous than a telephoned one. For instance, on the occasion of any joyous occasion– a birth in a friend’s family, the announcement of an engagement, a wedding, or a birthday anniversary— it is always courteous to telegraph your congratulations, whereas you would telephone your message only where you were extremely well acquainted. 

The telegram is regarded as a perfectly proper means of conveying condolence following the death in the family of a friend or acquaintance. And, of course, such a message of sympathy should never be conveyed by telephone message. When sending such, telegrams it is best to indicate that you wish to have them delivered by messenger rather than by telephone.

So usual is it for us in sending business telegrams to bear we have a ten-word limit for the minimum fee that we are prone to attempt to force social telegrams into this ten word limit, or else we pad them out so that we will make use of all the words to which we are entitled. Often your message is best expressed in only two or three words. Sometimes the single word, “Congratulations” is all that is required. Then it would be decidedly in bad judgment to use more

Needless to say, we dispense with formal introductions and conclusions even in the social telegram. This we do not begin with “My dear.” or “Dear.” nor do we use such expressions as “sincerely” or “truly yours.” even when sending a formal message. 

Always remember that there is nothing private about a telegram and that no message should be sent over the wire are not that you are not willing to have received by others than the one for whom it is intended. Usually a telegram is urgent in its nature and members of a family would open one when addressed to an absent member. Similarly a telegram sent to a person’s business address and received during his absence would be opened by the one who received it. — Mary Marshall Duffee, 1917

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