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This article is about the concept generally, for its meaning specific to politics, see Dog-whistle politics.

A code word is a word or a phrase designed to convey a predetermined meaning to certain partisan or privileged listeners that yet sounds inoffensive to an average listener not aware of the coded meaning. The use of this particular rhetorical device in a knowing attempt to deceive large groups of people is then disingenuous.

Contents 1 Professional 2 Medical 3 Commercial 4 Legal 5 Military and intelligence 6 Informal code word 7 See also 7.1 Examples 8 Footnotes 9 External links

Professionals may use code words to send messages to one another in the presence of a client or customer. For example, a customer support professional may say "the problem was with the PEBKAC", (meaning "Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair", in other words the end user) or "it was an ID 10 t error" ("ID10t" meaning "idiot" in leet).

Main article: Hospital emergency codes

• There is a wide range of hospital emergency codes, usually based on colors not strictly standardized but including common terms such as "code blue" to summon the cardiac arrest team. Terms like "code red"^{[1] [2]} and "code blue" ^[3][4] are also commonly used in hospital settings to alert staff to fires or electrical problems, without scaring other patients. Alternatively, a doctor or nurse may page "Dr. Brown" or a similar fictitious person as a covert request for immediate security when dealing with a potentially combative patient.

• Similarly a doctor may refer to a suspected case of tuberculosis as "Koch's Disease" in order to avoid alarming patients.

• Some medical nicknames are derogatory, such as GOMER for "Get Out of My Emergency Room".

• Wal-Mart uses a system of code words to communicate with employees without alarming customers; for example, "Code Brown" signifies gunfire on the premises. ^[5]

• Movie theater employees may say "Mr. Johnson is in theater number three" to indicate that there is a fire or smoke in that theater. The need for such a code word is obvious since even the idea that there may be a fire in a crowded theater must be kept from the theatergoers. Nightclubs and bars often use the name Mr. Sands.

• Television scriptwriters needed to think of a code word for Capt. Kirk in "Star Trek" and chose "condition green", which sounds like everything is fine but means something like, "I am being detained by force and watched, please help immediately."

• When hippies called marijuana "Mary Jane" in the 1960's, they intended to communicate their meaning to some but not to others, as the drug was illegal. ^[6]

• The term "code word" was used prominently in 1998 by Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee. He opposed the impeachment of President Clinton, and Rep. Bob Barr responded, "real America understands that the Constitution is there for a reason." To which Prof. Dershowitz said, "whenever I hear the words 'real Americans,' that sounds to me like a code word for racism, a code word for bigotry, a code word for anti-Semitism." ^[7]

• When lawyers assess the merits of a personal injury case in front of a client, one may emphasize to the other that the client has only "soft tissue" injuries, signaling that he thinks the client may be faking, and the case should not be taken.

• When a lawyer incurs the ire of a judge in open court, he may start to defend himself with, "Your Honor, as an officer of the court," which is designed to remind the judge that they are on the same team, sworn in by the state's highest court, and he wants professional courtesy despite his offense. This code word was used repeatedly by Mark Fuhrman's lawyer in the People of Calif. vs. O.J. Simpson (1995), after F. Lee Bailey caught the lawyer in a misrepresentation on live TV (regarding the out-of-pocket expenses the lawyer had already incurred in preparing for Fuhrman's anticipated defense).

• Police also use the 10-code system.

• Emergency rescue workers or police officers may say "There is a 'K'" for dead body.

• Military and intelligence organizations commonly use code words or nicknames to conceal the meaning of plans, operations, or techniques. For example, Operation Overlord was the well-known Allied code name for the invasion of northwest Europe in World War II. The more tightly guarded Operation Neptune was the code word for the actual beach invasion in the Battle of Normandy.

• Highly classified operations, requiring access beyond that authorized by a basic security clearance, generically may be called "codeword", implying they are a Special Access Program (SAP) or classified information in the United States Sensitive Compartmented [intelligence] Information (SCI) ^[8].

• An informal code word is a term used, without formal agreement and in many cases without any prior agreement, with the intention of communicating more to one or more listeners or readers, who are predisposed to see its double meaning, than to another or others.

• Expectant parents, for instance, may refer, within hearing of their first child, to "our friend", meaning either the fetus or the anticipated child. At the first use, those words may be understood that way by the listening parent, without assistance; on the other hand, they also might instead be explained, pre-emptively or in response to perceived incomprehension, by a wink that means "That's a code word", or by a nod toward the pregnant mother's abdomen.

• Women may use code words that many men don't understand. For example, if a woman and her boyfriend at a party ask a woman if she would like to double date with them this weekend, they might hear the reply, "No, I think my Aunt Mary is visiting this weekend." The man thinks it is a family get-together, but the women in the room know she is expecting her period, and the women acccept the excuse fully with no follow-up.

• Informal code words can find use in propaganda, distinct from use of euphemistic code words to delay or avoid emotional responses in the audience. They may be intended to be construed as generalized platitudes by the majority of listeners, but as quite specific promises by those for whom the specific wording was crafted. For instance, a reference in late-20th century America to "places like Pearl Harbor and Bataan" (while omitting mention of Normandy) would seem to many a vague expression of respect for World War II veterans, but would often mean "I won't trust Japan or the Japanese" to veterans of the Pacific Theater, and their relatives old enough to have followed the news and propaganda of the war.

• Euphemism
• Dog-whistle politics
• Doublespeak
• Framing (social sciences)
• Glittering generality
• Loaded language
• Power word

• Compassionate conservatism
• Culture of Life
• Culture of Death
• People of Faith — in the U.S., refers generally to Christians
• Hardworking families — United Kingdom
• Inclusive language
• Right to Choose

1. ^ Flowers, Jane (April, 2004). Code red in the OR—implementing an OR fire drill.
2. ^ Troy, Peter (10 September 2007). The Burning Question of Integration - Fire and Safety Systems.
3. ^ {{ | url = http://medicine.ucsf.edu/housestaff/handbook/HospH2002_AppC.htm | title = Advanced Cardiac Life Support }}
4. ^ About NRCPR :: Participant Testimonials.
5. ^ AZCentral.com; last accessed October 31, 2006.
6. ^ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mary%20jane
7. ^ http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.aspx?GUID={E8E93667-A7F1-4ABD-A26E-8B637A3B77D3}
8. ^ [http://www.fas.org/sgp/library/nispom_dod_overprint.pdf Department of Defense Overprint to the National Industrial Security Program, February 1995

Usage examples:

• Code Word: Containment "...the new code word for sanctions..." - Jeff Guntzel, 08/14/02
• Paul Martin's codeword for "who cares" (Canada) "Unacceptable is a word that Martin and his Liberal members use when they disapprove of something but have absolutely no intention of doing anything about it." - Arthur Weinreb, 04/08/05

v • d • e Propaganda techniques
Bandwagon effect · Buzzword · Card stacking · Code word · Dog-whistle politics · Doublespeak · Framing · Glittering generality · Power word · Lesser of two evils principle · Loaded language · Newspeak · Public relations · Plain folks · Testimonial · Weasel word