In Morse code .- is "a", and .. is "i", similar enough to occasionally be mixed up. In the first half of the 1900s, and earlier, telegrams were commonly used, and expensive, so messages were short.
Needless to say, a telegram like, "GRANDFATHER PISSED AWAY QUIETLY ON FRIDAY NIGHT" would not have been unusual, or so my uncle told me - he worked for the Post Office, which was responsible for telegraph and telephone services then
