Noun: old 20th Century language used by journalists beginning in the 1920s and lasting until the 1950s...Sending a wire or cable to report the news was expensive...Western Union and other wire services charged by the letter not the word...so reporters in order to save money used a "version" of slang to get stories to their editors, and save on the wire bill...
Johnson filed her story at the local Western Union office, in order to save money she sent the following wire in cableese to her editor about the film being well received in the countryside: "Hicks n stix luv pic"...
by Hans Montag January 20, 2009