the operators began to vocalize a dot as dit, and a dash as dah, to reflect the sounds of Morse code they heard. To conform to normal sending speed, dits which are not the last element of a code became voiced as di. For example, the , , is voiced as ''di dah di dit''. Morse code was sometimes facetiously known as "iddy-umpty", a dit lampooned as "iddy" and a dah as "umpty", leading to the word "umpteen".

Gerke's refinement of Morse's code

The Morse

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