Past tense of 'dit,' meaning to dot or mark with small points, or to produce short sounds in telegraph or Morse code.
From 'dit,' which represents the short signal in Morse code (as opposed to 'dah' for long signals). The term originated in telegraphy and onomatopoetically represents the actual sound produced.
Telegraph operators developed 'dit' and 'dah' as shorthand for the sounds they heard all day, and these words became so specialized that most modern people don't recognize them even though we inherited Morse code's rhythm!
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