[Boatanchors] Wouff Hong - rettysnitch and other symbols

[David Hollander]

Lid comes from a landline telegrapher's insult. Many operators of the 
day came from a landline background, and on the landlines a common 
insult was that someone was "ham fisted" in his sending. It is possible 
that commerical operators used this slang to refer to amateurs and it 
caught on. Certainly, the term LID came from landline telegrapher slang. 
LID was a reference to use of a tobacco can lid on the sounder to aid a 
poor operator in copying Morse.

Dave N7RK