Can you decipher this code on a 1912 postcard?

December 20, 2010 9:27 PM

Can you decipher this code on a 1912 postcard?

1) Here's what is typed in the message portion of a postcard from 1912: http://imgur.com/a/jjaSP/1#d3Lyn

2) The address is hand-written.
3) The address city and postmark city are both Attica.
4) It is addressed to Miss Elma Kemp.
5) The front of the postcard can be seen at the above link as well (leads me to believe the sender and receiver probably were chummy with each other).

Is this a simple substitution cipher? Or is something else going on here?

posted by gluechunk to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

Best answer: It's a substitution cipher, and reads as follows:

HOPE YOU ARE NOT LOOKING FOR A LETTER TOMORROW DO NOT FEEL LIKE WRITING EVERY DAY I WILL LOOK FOR ONE THO SICK SAT EVE MUCH BETTER TODAY
posted by pemberkins at 9:44 PM on December 20, 2010 [12 favorites]

Looks to me like somebody was just futzing around with a typewriter and sent the postcard as a lark.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 1:55 AM on December 21, 2010

Where is the 'H' in the first word?
posted by gjc at 2:35 AM on December 21, 2010

the first H is '_'
posted by compound eye at 4:20 AM on December 21, 2010

Sorry, yes, H is coded as _. The first H is there, but hard to see because it overlaps somewhat with the ## in the sentence below.
posted by pemberkins at 5:07 AM on December 21, 2010

Heh, that was fun. My independent decoding confirms pemberkins'.
posted by rlk at 8:27 AM on December 21, 2010