I'm looking for the details behind a well-known story, involving two telegrams. The first sender sends a wire with nothing more than a question mark and the return sender replies with a wire with nothing more than an exclamation point. Anybody know who the two correspondents were?

gmackematix

From what I recall, it was Victor Hugo enquiring of his publisher how his book was selling ("?") and the publisher's response ("!") indicated it was selling rather well. Q: There is a famous story that the world's shortest correspondence took place between Victor Hugo and his publisher. After LES MISÉRABLES was published for the first time, Hugo, inquiring about the status of sales, sent a telegram to his publisher that consisted of a single question mark. What was the publisher's reply? A: A single exclamation point (the original Paris printing of 7,000 copies sold out in 24 hours). http://www.kcstarlight.com/broadway/lesMisQuiz.htm [Edited to add reference - McG] Jun 30 04, 5:53 PM

Ruby72251

The shortest telegram in the English language was from the Irish writer Oscar Wilde. He was living in Paris and he cabled his publisher in Britain to see how his new book was doing. The message read: “?” The publisher cabled back: “!” Go to this site DISCOVERING THE PAST http://archive.1september.ru/eng/2000/no15_2.htm Jun 30 04, 6:15 PM