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Spy Speak
- 1212 statements
- 231 feature instances
- 205 referencing feature instances
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Speaking in code. Not only spies, but anyone in a secret-ish organization having a reason to be discreet — like La Résistance with code phrases, a Man In Black using metaphor, a hit squad, etc. — might do this. A form of Cryptic Conversation. Usually one of these three: Key words, or replacing people's names with common items, much like Double Speak, but can be less vague. This one is often parodied by the people speaking in complete non-sequiturs. A Metaphor, also known as "Open Code", similar to Unusual Euphemism and Trouble Entendre, with words and themes replacing the business of the organization, like the following: Sign/Countersign, or completely unrelated phrases meant to look like a casual conversation. Despite (or perhaps because of) the randomness of these kinds of spy speak, a completely unrelated civilian will get embroiled in whatever the plot is by randomly getting the code words, Sign Countersign, or metaphor right. Alternatively, a character might point out that they're doing this under unnecessary circumstances, and the codeword usage is just pointless. Another typical parody/subversion is to have the apparent Spy Speak turn out to be literally true, generating confusion. Might rely heavily on birds and flying. Subtrope to Double Meaning. See also Cypher Language, The Password Is Always "Swordfish", Attack Pattern Alpha, Military Alphabet, Talking through Technique and Reporting Names. Can overlap with Public Secret Message. May result in Mistaken for Badass. Codename Title is when this shows up in the name of the work. |
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The Devil's in the details (Fanfic) | |
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TheGunsOfNavarone | |
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Averted | |
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Spy Speak | isPartOf |
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Spy Speak / int_113339c4 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_113339c4 | comment |
In The Art Of Drowning L and Watari use the keyword variety — which Light later unwittingly uses when pretending to be L: | |
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TheArtOfDrowning | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_1296e5f6 | type |
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We're Alive: Soldiers from Ft. Irwin use code phrases to identify themselves over radio or sat phone communications. These phrases are ad-libbed but require a certain combination of pre-arranged words within them. For example: Earlier in the series, survivors from The Tower use bird-themed callsigns for people and places to disguise their communications over CB radio. |
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Spy Speak / int_1296e5f6 | featureApplicability |
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We're Alive (Audio Play) | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_12fd5db0 | type |
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Spy Speak / int_12fd5db0 | comment |
Parodied in Megamind: Minion's idea of "speaking in code" is making a straight statement prefaced by the word "Code". | |
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Megamind | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_1367cea0 | type |
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Spy Speak / int_1367cea0 | comment |
Worm has a couple examples: First, in Chapter 5.5, Tattletale comes up with the following (which doubles as a source of Trust Passwords on a few occasions): Second, in Chapter 20.1, we see that Skitter has developed an open code so that she and her minions can covertly exchange information via text message without raising any flags if someone sees their text messages. |
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Worm | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_1510822e | type |
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Half-parodied in GoldenEye: | |
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GoldenEye | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_18c16684 | type |
Spy Speak | |
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In John Wick: Chapter 2, the entirety of the scene in the Rome Continental where John is obtaining guns from the Sommelier, as they plan for John's 'party' (code for "assassination followed by a likely bloody exfiltration"). A "tasting" means that a buyer is ready to shop. Something "robust, precise" can refer to a custom-made AR-15 assault rifle. Something "big, bold" can refer to the Benelli M4 Shotgun. Though, amusingly, even he is caught off-guard when John refers to bladed weaponry as "dessert", which ends up being an assortment of freshly sharpened steel knives. | |
Spy Speak / int_18c16684 | featureApplicability |
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John Wick: Chapter 2 | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_19b7308b | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_19b7308b | comment |
Wynncraft: In the quest Acquiring Credentials, there's a secret code to get into the Letvus Airbase Black Market, Ã la Captain America: The First Avenger: | |
Spy Speak / int_19b7308b | featureApplicability |
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Wynncraft (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_1aacbbc9 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_1aacbbc9 | comment |
Dragon Age There is a sidequest in Dragon Age: Origins involving gaining entrance to a secret meeting using the phrase "the griffins will rise again". The Warden has the option of being silly and saying either "sausage" or "the grey nug flies north for the winter" instead. In Dragon Age II, Snarky!Hawke has some fun with this: In Dragon Age: Inquisition: Iron Bull (a Qunari spy) tells Varric (a writer of detective novels) that this isn't the way it works, and it's mostly just pre-arranged dead drops. Varric says his way is more fun. |
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Dragon Age (Franchise) | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_1acf3832 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_1acf3832 | comment |
One of the missions in No One Lives Forever involves exchanging these code phrases with several deep cover spies in East Germany. However, since Cate Archer, the player/protagonist, is a woman in the pre-feminist 1960's, all of the code phrases are crass come-ons from the spies and "witty" shootdowns from Cate. Most of them are at least apologetic about it. | |
Spy Speak / int_1acf3832 | featureApplicability |
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No One Lives Forever (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_1beec425 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_1beec425 | comment |
Shelly tries it in Scary Go Round, but it doesn't help that she's a bit of a Cloudcuckoolander: | |
Spy Speak / int_1beec425 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_1beec425 | featureConfidence |
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Scary Go Round (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_1e703d1f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_1e703d1f | comment |
Parodied in the Gilmore Girls episode "The Third Lorelai". | |
Spy Speak / int_1e703d1f | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_1e703d1f | featureConfidence |
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Gilmore Girls | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_1ed2c571 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_1ed2c571 | comment |
A few episodes of The Cosby Show see the adults playing team-based trick-taking card games; they attempt to signal each other by using various forms of spy speak. Some, like Cliff's father Russell's, are transparent—"When I was a kid, we used to go down and play at the baseball diamond." Cliff, in a response to this, comes up with ridiculously complicated codes: for instance, he might use "pump" to indicate "heart," because a heart pumps blood. Their wives, however, are the true masters of the art—they have rapid-fire conversations which contain information so well hidden that their husbands are left completely fooled. | |
Spy Speak / int_1ed2c571 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_1ed2c571 | featureConfidence |
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The Cosby Show | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_214c84d4 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_214c84d4 | comment |
Parodied in The Ipcress File. At the beginning of the movie, Harry is spying on a building and reads out an innocuous sounding list, which we automatically assume is code — but it isn't, and what he's watching really is that innocuous. | |
Spy Speak / int_214c84d4 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_214c84d4 | featureConfidence |
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The Ipcress File | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_2175d90e | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2175d90e | comment |
An early episode of Benson had a revolutionary attempt to contact another at a party using this method. However, he talks to Benson by mistake and Benson is not in on the code. | |
Spy Speak / int_2175d90e | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_2175d90e | featureConfidence |
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Benson | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_219ac903 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_219ac903 | comment |
Address Unknown: Max's friend Martin gets ever more involved with the rising Nazi party, to the point where he refuses to shelter Max's sister from the Nazis coming to kill her. From then on, every letter Max sends to Martin contains numbers (the weight of a relative's newborns) or colors (Max is an art dealer), in ways so obvious they must be a code, leading to the Nazis eventually arresting and murdering Martin as a traitor for corresponding with a Jew (Martin is entirely aware of what Max is doing, but his protests of innocence fall on deaf ears). The title refers to the final letter, sent back to Max because the man it was addressed to is no longer living there (or living at all). | |
Spy Speak / int_219ac903 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_219ac903 | featureConfidence |
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Address Unknown | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_21e43f3a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_21e43f3a | comment |
Parodied on the game show Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego. In one type of clue, this girl spy would tell Greg something that sounds like code, but it's not: it's expanded to be the clue pointing to the next location. | |
Spy Speak / int_21e43f3a | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_21e43f3a | featureConfidence |
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Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_222c2051 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_222c2051 | comment |
An episode of Chuck has Big Mike come up with a panic code word for the Black Friday sale at the Buy More ("Pineapple"). When an associate utters it, everyone is supposed to quickly get people out of the store. Naturally, this becomes useful when a bad guy has Chuck at gunpoint and is trying to get him out of the store. | |
Spy Speak / int_222c2051 | featureApplicability |
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Chuck | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_2275c659 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2275c659 | comment |
House: In "All In", Wilson parodies this when House phones him while playing cards. Played (somewhat) straighter in "The Down Low" where House gets around a drug dealer's reluctance to talk about his cocaine business by referring to the product as "culottes". |
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House | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_22989f46 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_22989f46 | comment |
L.A. Law: Douglas Brackman is ordering sushi for the first time and asks the beautiful woman sitting next to him for advice, using terms from the menu such as "hand roll." She's an undercover vice cop and arrests him for solicitation of prostitution — dropping the charges in great embarrassment when shown the menu. | |
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L.A. Law | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_22c6ae5f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_22c6ae5f | comment |
Subverted in the Red Room series as the agents use magic so anyone listening in only hears normals conversations. Protagonist Derek says that plenty of agents still try to use spy speak for tradition, though, which he finds irritating. | |
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Red Room | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_2372359 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2372359 | comment |
In The Belgariad, the Nadrak Yarblek gets into the royal palace in Boktor by telling a member of the Drasnian Intelligence that "the salmon is running late". The second time he uses this phrase, the Drasnian spy remarks to the Queen that he "takes a very keen interest in the salmon runs". | |
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The Belgariad | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_23d2ea71 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_23d2ea71 | comment |
One episode of Donkey Kong Country had Klump trying this. K.Rool was not impressed. | |
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Donkey Kong Country | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_256a8ec8 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_256a8ec8 | comment |
The Hardy Boys Casefiles, "Hostages of Hate," had two good instances of this: | |
Spy Speak / int_256a8ec8 | featureApplicability |
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HardyBoys | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_256a8ec8 | |
Spy Speak / int_261c8d3f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons has the following exchange: | |
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The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_261c8d3f | |
Spy Speak / int_2675c915 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2675c915 | comment |
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Parodied in episode 3: Played straight in "T.A.H.I.T.I.". When the team arrives at the Guest House facility, the guards greet them with "How was the ride from Istanbul?" None of them know the countersign, it's not in any of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s databases, and the guards refuse to say anything else. So, the team ends up having to fight their way in. |
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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_26a33287 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_26a33287 | comment |
In indie game Mount & Blade, you can sometimes get quests from your lords or king to receive spy's reports from enemy towns, in which you have to sneak past the border into the rival town, run around randomly reciting whatever phrase the lord or king had you memorize (from a list), looking like an idiot, until you find the spy. | |
Spy Speak / int_26a33287 | featureApplicability |
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Mount & Blade (Video Game) | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_29516906 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_29516906 | comment |
Dragnet has this in episodes that usually involve illegal bookmaking operations — one set of codes for placing bets, and another for paying off winners. | |
Spy Speak / int_29516906 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_29516906 | featureConfidence |
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Dragnet (Franchise) | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_2a4482ad | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2a4482ad | comment |
The Secret of Monkey Island: The game has the possible exchange: This receives a Shout-Out in the third game, where the pirate barbers explain that their band used to have a fourth member named Dominique. |
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The Secret of Monkey Island (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_2a4482ad | |
Spy Speak / int_2ba48a26 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2ba48a26 | comment |
Castle: In one episode, the victim seems to have been a spy (it's eventually revealed he was playing a spy-themed LARP, but same thing), and they find a pen among his possessions that tells them a meeting place and code phrase and response "Aren't you Steve's friend?" "No, Steve is my brother." Castle picks out a woman and gives her the first line, but she utterly fails to give the response, leading him to press her further. Then a man comes up to Castle and gives the first phrase. | |
Spy Speak / int_2ba48a26 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_2ba48a26 | featureConfidence |
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Castle (2009) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_2ba48a26 | |
Spy Speak / int_2bc165fe | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2bc165fe | comment |
Lampshaded in The World Is Not Enough: | |
Spy Speak / int_2bc165fe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_2bc165fe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The World Is Not Enough | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_2f863d36 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2f863d36 | comment |
In the Colombian film Maria Full of Grace Maria is offered a one-time gig as a drug mule. As recruiter Franklin describes the assignment, she is going to take a trip to New Jersey with a bunch of "film rolls", be picked up and taken to a safe location where "the films will be developed" i.e. they will wait out for her to pass the heroin-filled pellets she swallowed. All 62 of them. She does get a "Shame If Something Happened to your family" speech in case the pellets don't make it. | |
Spy Speak / int_2f863d36 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_2f863d36 | featureConfidence |
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Maria Full Of Grace | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_2f863d36 | |
Spy Speak / int_2fc6ec9 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_2fc6ec9 | comment |
In one Josie And The Pussy Cats story, Melody is spouting "mixed-up maxims", and one just happens to be the pass-phrase for a covert operation. A foreign spy mistakes her for another operative, and gives her a secret file hidden in a stuffed animal. Needless to say, when the spy's real contact comes by, things get sticky... | |
Spy Speak / int_2fc6ec9 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_2fc6ec9 | featureConfidence |
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Josie and the Pussycats (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_2fc6ec9 | |
Spy Speak / int_30157ece | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_30157ece | comment |
In Office Politics, L and Raito use Spy Speak to talk about their relationship troubles: | |
Spy Speak / int_30157ece | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_30157ece | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Office Politics / Fan Fic | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_30157ece | |
Spy Speak / int_31947123 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_31947123 | comment |
In the pilot episode of Scamalot, James convinces Solomon to adopt a code that replaces words such as "lawyer" and "bank" with candy-related terms. Hilarity Ensues: | |
Spy Speak / int_31947123 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_31947123 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Scamalot (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_31947123 | |
Spy Speak / int_31aedabc | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_31aedabc | comment |
In the Cthulhu Mythos story Such Bright and Risen Madness in Our Names, by Jay Lake, La Résistance on an Earth conquered by the Old Ones imitate the Dagon and Silver Twilight cults to hide their activities, with the sign/countersign taken from their rituals. | |
Spy Speak / int_31aedabc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_31aedabc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Cthulhu Mythos (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_31aedabc | |
Spy Speak / int_32c541e6 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_32c541e6 | comment |
Fullmetal Alchemist: The heroes fight a truly ghoulish Government Conspiracy, and as such have to improvise Spy Speak whenever there's even a slight chance of the walls having ears. As evidenced above, Mustang's version is comprised almost entirely of talk about his many, many girlfriends. Who, incidentally, by the end of the manga pretty clearly utterly fail to exist. Most of the few actual women he's seen with turn out to be agents with his foster mother's information network. Also, alchemical research is often written in code to make it difficult for the wrong people to decipher it. A particularly notable case occurs when it turns out that a seemingly ordinary cookbook is actually code for the process to create a Philosopher's Stone. There's a lovely one which consists of Roy and Riza discussing a bunch of friends at lunch. The first initials of the names Riza mentions Roy spells out (in the loo) to convey the shocking Reveal: SELIM BRADLEY IS A HOMUNCULUS. Mustang later does it again with General Armstrong, by having a seemingly normal conversation about the Armstrong family mansion, while they plan to hide the Briggs soldiers in said mansion in preparation for the upcoming coup. |
|
Spy Speak / int_32c541e6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_32c541e6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_32c541e6 | |
Spy Speak / int_34dfb906 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_34dfb906 | comment |
From the back of the box of Dominion: Intrigue: | |
Spy Speak / int_34dfb906 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_34dfb906 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dominion (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_34dfb906 | |
Spy Speak / int_35e05f2a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_35e05f2a | comment |
The RWBY fanfic Four Deadly Secrets has Neo and Ruby use this, in the form of sign/counter-sign when they first meet | |
Spy Speak / int_35e05f2a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_35e05f2a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
RWBY (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_35e05f2a | |
Spy Speak / int_3638bab7 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_3638bab7 | comment |
The Shadow: The Shadow’s agents use this code sign to establish to each other that they’re working for him: | |
Spy Speak / int_3638bab7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_3638bab7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Shadow | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_3638bab7 | |
Spy Speak / int_36ee2abe | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_36ee2abe | comment |
The Sign/Countersign version occurs in the Paranoia adventure Send in the Clones. The PC Troubleshooter Chock-O-BLK-1 is told to use the phrase "The show I like is My Favorite Computer" to Hall-Y-WUD to identify himself as a fellow member of the Free Enterprise secret society. Hall-Y-WUD is supposed to respond with the phrase "Yes, that's one of our most popular shows." Unfortunately Hall-Y-WUD hasn't been informed about the password and will say instead "Hmm. I've never heard of that show." | |
Spy Speak / int_36ee2abe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_36ee2abe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Paranoia (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_36ee2abe | |
Spy Speak / int_38af3bd0 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_38af3bd0 | comment |
In The Tuxedo, when Jimmy is contacted by Del, who assumes he's the Bond Expy Clark Devlin, she tells him to meet her in a park. She will be wearing a beige business suit, and he's supposed to say "Nice rack" with the counter-sign being "I forgot my bra." While Del is saying that with a tired expression, a couple of nerdy guys are snickering in the background. Naturally, when Jimmy goes to the park, he walks up to a woman in a business suit and says the code phrase, while raising his eyebrows suggestively. She slaps him and goes to find the nearest cop. Jimmy then gets a call from Del to let him know that the meeting place and time have been changed. | |
Spy Speak / int_38af3bd0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_38af3bd0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Tuxedo | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_38af3bd0 | |
Spy Speak / int_38cb92a7 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_38cb92a7 | comment |
A brief exchange shows up in Ryan Verse's book Clear and Present Danger | |
Spy Speak / int_38cb92a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_38cb92a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Clear and Present Danger | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_38cb92a7 | |
Spy Speak / int_397e9ed2 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_397e9ed2 | comment |
Bella of Luminosity makes these up sometimes, since she doesn't want anyone to die. | |
Spy Speak / int_397e9ed2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_397e9ed2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Luminosity / Fan Fic | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_397e9ed2 | |
Spy Speak / int_39eb533 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_39eb533 | comment |
Les Barbouzes has a sign/countersign exchange in a hotel lobby: | |
Spy Speak / int_39eb533 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_39eb533 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Les Barbouzes | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_39eb533 | |
Spy Speak / int_39f32df7 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_39f32df7 | comment |
From Russia with Love: | |
Spy Speak / int_39f32df7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_39f32df7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
From Russia with Love | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_39f32df7 | |
Spy Speak / int_39f6a46c | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_39f6a46c | comment |
A straight example in Diamonds Are Forever. When Tiffany Case arrives at the circus to pick up the diamonds, the CIA agent alerts everyone. | |
Spy Speak / int_39f6a46c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_39f6a46c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Diamonds Are Forever | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_39f6a46c | |
Spy Speak / int_39fe00f1 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_39fe00f1 | comment |
In Dragon Age: Inquisition: Iron Bull (a Qunari spy) tells Varric (a writer of detective novels) that this isn't the way it works, and it's mostly just pre-arranged dead drops. Varric says his way is more fun. | |
Spy Speak / int_39fe00f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_39fe00f1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dragon Age: Inquisition (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_39fe00f1 | |
Spy Speak / int_3b19a3ad | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_3b19a3ad | comment |
In the short story "Methuselah's Children", the members of the Howard Families use a Sign/Countersign routine to verify each other's identities: | |
Spy Speak / int_3b19a3ad | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_3b19a3ad | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Methuselah's Children | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_3b19a3ad | |
Spy Speak / int_3c7dd9d4 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_3c7dd9d4 | comment |
In Fallout 4, the Railroad often uses this as their way of secretly communicating with and identifying members. The most common phrase used is "I'm looking for a Geiger Counter" which is responded with "Mine is in the Back". | |
Spy Speak / int_3c7dd9d4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_3c7dd9d4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Fallout 4 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_3c7dd9d4 | |
Spy Speak / int_3d0180fa | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_3d0180fa | comment |
In one of The Pink Panther movies, Inspector Clouseau asks Chief Inspector Dreyfus what his code name is. The Chief Inspector sputters out that he doesn't have one. Inspector Clouseau, satisfied, replies that only the REAL Chief Inspector Dreyfus would know he doesn't have a code name. | |
Spy Speak / int_3d0180fa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_3d0180fa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Pink Panther (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_3d0180fa | |
Spy Speak / int_3d776ce3 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_3d776ce3 | comment |
In a mission in Alpha Protocol, the sign/countersign version is used as a Trust Password in a mission to infiltrate a NSA listening post, with Mike having to say how the Adirondacks are lovely this time of year inside an Italian gelato shop in Rome. While Mike has the correct sign from an inside source, the guy on the other end doesn't respond with the right countersign. Using the code phrase prevents him from springing a gun on you at the end, meaning that Mina either had faulty info or the Gelato Man remembered the sign but had forgotten the countersign. | |
Spy Speak / int_3d776ce3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_3d776ce3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Alpha Protocol (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_3d776ce3 | |
Spy Speak / int_3fe6b4fb | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_3fe6b4fb | comment |
Spoofed in Rebel Dream. The Insiders don't actually use sign/countersign methods, preferring to stick to known members and use Jedi and YVH droids to screen for infiltrators. This doesn't stop Kell from making up his own. | |
Spy Speak / int_3fe6b4fb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_3fe6b4fb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
New Jedi Order | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_3fe6b4fb | |
Spy Speak / int_3ff83d3 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_3ff83d3 | comment |
In the epic clown movie Shakes the Clown, evil clown Binky is informed of his successful drug purchase by one of his henchmen with, "The dolphins are in the jacuzzi." | |
Spy Speak / int_3ff83d3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_3ff83d3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Shakes the Clown | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_3ff83d3 | |
Spy Speak / int_41b0198a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_41b0198a | comment |
Whenever Harry Dresden has to call the Wardens (which, at that point, he's already in deep shit), he has to do several sign-countersign routines in quick succession for the Wardens to confirm that it is, in fact, Harry. Despite realizing the necessity of it all, it still bugs the crap out of him. | |
Spy Speak / int_41b0198a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_41b0198a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Dresden Files | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_41b0198a | |
Spy Speak / int_43576f5 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_43576f5 | comment |
Supernatural: Sam and Dean have the code phrase "Funky Town"; Dean uses this to tell Sam he's in trouble and has a gun pointed at him. | |
Spy Speak / int_43576f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_43576f5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Supernatural | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_43576f5 | |
Spy Speak / int_43a9c333 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_43a9c333 | comment |
The first episode of Cowboy Bebop has the Red Eye/Bloody Eye dealers speaking in code to identify themselves as buyers and sellers. Makes a brief return in a later episode when Gren and Vicious speak in code to arrange a meeting point for their deal. Spike, who is trying to listen in, is unable to tell where they'll be and has to wait until the deal goes sour and stuff starts blowing up before he can find them. | |
Spy Speak / int_43a9c333 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_43a9c333 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Cowboy Bebop | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_43a9c333 | |
Spy Speak / int_4515faf0 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_4515faf0 | comment |
Danger Man: John Drake is disgusted to be given some nonsensical Spy Speak to identify himself to a contact. Sitting in the cafe where he's to rendezvous he spots an old friend and the two chat away for a few minutes before the friend — a man Drake has known most of his adult life — gives the password. They both have a good laugh over the absurdity of giving identifying passwords to two men who know each other. | |
Spy Speak / int_4515faf0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_4515faf0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Danger Man | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_4515faf0 | |
Spy Speak / int_45b9d1ec | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_45b9d1ec | comment |
In The Tale Of Gurion Thricebound The Raven's Organization uses signs and countersigns. | |
Spy Speak / int_45b9d1ec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_45b9d1ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Tale Of Gurion Thricebound | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_45b9d1ec | |
Spy Speak / int_46518682 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_46518682 | comment |
Sesame Street had an early series of sketches where Bob and Maria would rendezvous at a fog-shrouded waterfront and start their meeting by exchanging nursery rhyme lyrics as code. | |
Spy Speak / int_46518682 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_46518682 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sesame Street | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_46518682 | |
Spy Speak / int_468bebb0 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_468bebb0 | comment |
Brilliantly parodied in the Discworld book Guards! Guards!: a secret cultist goes through a length of sign countersign for a password, only to find that he's talking to a different secret cult, when he gets some of it confused. Especially since the password is four different sign/countersign pairs, and these two unrelated secret societies which coincidentally have headquarters on the same street, have identical sign/countersign pairs for the first three exchanges. And the doorkeeper is able to direct the secret cultist to the correct building just based on what countersign he was expecting, implying that the cults' "secret" signs...aren't. | |
Spy Speak / int_468bebb0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_468bebb0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Discworld | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_468bebb0 | |
Spy Speak / int_483a069c | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_483a069c | comment |
Mortadelo y Filemón: Usually people around take these words literally with odd results. It doesn't help that several arranged codes seem to be offensive, requiring the agents to insult people having facial hair or a certain ideology or ethnicity. At that moment, an aggressive member of that group happens to overhear and deals with them accordingly. Fun fact: In Real Life, Enrique Chicote, the only man who ever got the top prize in the Spanish version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, answered one of the last questions correctly thanks to one of these jokes that he read in the comic books. | |
Spy Speak / int_483a069c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_483a069c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mortadelo y Filemón (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_483a069c | |
Spy Speak / int_49ad83ee | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_49ad83ee | comment |
In World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, the Outcast Arrakoa are a minority persecuted by their High Arrakoa cousins, led by the Adherents of Rukhmar. Those involved with La Résistance use a sign/countersign: "shadows gather..." / "...when the raven swallows the day". (This is also used for Theme Naming; Shadows Gather is the quest chain that introduces you to the Outcasts; When The Raven Swallows The Day is the chain where they are finally victorious.) | |
Spy Speak / int_49ad83ee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_49ad83ee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
World of Warcraft (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_49ad83ee | |
Spy Speak / int_4b57d678 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_4b57d678 | comment |
On Murphy Brown, when Murphy finds out she's pregnant, the first person she tells is Frank, but she's so upset that at first all she can say is "The stick was blue." Frank, baffled, decides she's invoking this trope and replies, "The dog barked at midnight." | |
Spy Speak / int_4b57d678 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_4b57d678 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Murphy Brown | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_4b57d678 | |
Spy Speak / int_4c06d071 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_4c06d071 | comment |
X-Men: Evolution: | |
Spy Speak / int_4c06d071 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_4c06d071 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
X-Men: Evolution | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_4c06d071 | |
Spy Speak / int_4c4e08ca | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_4c4e08ca | comment |
The Benny Hill Show There's a sketch in which Hill is sitting on a park bench between two Spy Speakers. Faced with their "bizarre" code phrases, he would inject things like "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts." That's not the only sketch making fun of Spy Speak; there's also an extended exchange in another spoof with a trio of spies in Istanbul exchanging increasingly nonsensical code phrases, some with Accidental Innuendo. Famous example: |
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Spy Speak / int_4c4e08ca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_4c4e08ca | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Benny Hill Show | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_4c4e08ca | |
Spy Speak / int_4da11f30 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_4da11f30 | comment |
Companies will often give codenames to projects in production, mostly to prevent competitors from figuring out what they're doing. The most evident one is filmmaking on location, upon which someone will post temporary signs on streetlights, telephone poles, and other structures with an arrow leading to the set and some word either marginally related or completely unrelated to what they're filming, particularly when the film is hotly anticipated — for instance, Return of the Jedi was codenamed "Blue Harvest" during production. Similarly, high-profile film and TV releases will often be distributed under code names — when the new Doctor Who was being prepared for broadcast, its materials went out under the anagram title Torchwood, which later acquired a series of its own because producer Russell T Davies liked the sound of it. | |
Spy Speak / int_4da11f30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_4da11f30 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Return of the Jedi | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_4da11f30 | |
Spy Speak / int_4f14e537 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_4f14e537 | comment |
The New Adventures of Invader Zim lampshades this in Episode 18, when two members of SMOG are communicating over walkie-talkie, and one uses code ("The fly is in the web") to state that he's located Gaz. The person he's talking to doesn't understand what he's talking about, having not read the code-sheet beforehand. | |
Spy Speak / int_4f14e537 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_4f14e537 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The New Adventures of Invader Zim (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_4f14e537 | |
Spy Speak / int_5178149f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5178149f | comment |
In the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Deep Cover for Batman!", while Red Hood (the Mirror Universe version of The Joker) is being interrogated by Silver Cyclone, he's secretly still in contact with Batman via earpiece, who needs to find his location to rescue him. Red Hood attempts to do this, sneaking directions in his answers to Cyclone. ("There were just 5 steps left, But then you found me, and the plan went south.") Unfortunately, while Batman quickly deciphers the code, so does Cyclone, who promptly leaves to take care of his unwelcome guest. | |
Spy Speak / int_5178149f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5178149f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Batman: The Brave and the Bold | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5178149f | |
Spy Speak / int_5319ce6c | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5319ce6c | comment |
Spy X Family is naturally full of this given the espionage setting. WISE frequently hands Twilight/Loid Forger his assignments this way by handing him a coded message and mentioning which cipher to use via making an animal noise (for example, "Meow" means Cipher C for 'cat') or using the same letter frequently in a sentence such as a waiter giving Loid a dish that's described with a lot of letter P's. | |
Spy Speak / int_5319ce6c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5319ce6c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
SPY×FAMILY (Manga) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5319ce6c | |
Spy Speak / int_531c562b | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_531c562b | comment |
Top Secret!. Used on multiple occasions by characters as a Sign/Countersign. | |
Spy Speak / int_531c562b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_531c562b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Top Secret! | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_531c562b | |
Spy Speak / int_547f6bce | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_547f6bce | comment |
In an early Family Ties episode, Elyse's brother Ned (played by Tom Hanks), a high-ranking corporate exec, embezzled funds from his company in order to sabotage a company closure that would put hundreds of people out of business. At one point he answered the phone, "The falcon has landed. The fat man walks alone. Repeat: The falcon has landed. The fat man walks alone." | |
Spy Speak / int_547f6bce | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_547f6bce | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Family Ties | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_547f6bce | |
Spy Speak / int_5690420f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5690420f | comment |
In an episode of the original DuckTales, the protagonists visit a restaurant full of spies speaking Spy Speak. | |
Spy Speak / int_5690420f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5690420f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
DuckTales (1987) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5690420f | |
Spy Speak / int_56b09616 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_56b09616 | comment |
Carmen Sandiego: Carmen and Ivy are scouting for a V.I.L.E. operative when Dash Haber mistakes Ivy for his contact and provides her with the opening sign. Ivy attempts to bluff her way out of giving the countersign, and Dash accepts that she's the right person but refuses to continue until she gives the right response. Carmen quickly clocks the real contact, gives the sign she learned from Dash Haber, and passes the countersign along to Ivy so that she can intercept the heist. | |
Spy Speak / int_56b09616 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_56b09616 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Carmen Sandiego | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_56b09616 | |
Spy Speak / int_5755b96a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5755b96a | comment |
The Order of the Stick: In "Travel Delays", it's a necessity for Nale, since Sabine could have any appearance. During the fight against Tarquin and his party, V says "Sir Greenhilt, I believe Xykon is feeling chilly today." The others immediately understand that it means, "Attack the Squishy Wizard, who is wearing a scarf." Also parodied in the prequel book Start of Darkness; see the Comic Books folder above. |
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Spy Speak / int_5755b96a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5755b96a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Order of the Stick (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5755b96a | |
Spy Speak / int_58808436 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_58808436 | comment |
Higurashi: When They Cry: Local Creepy Child Rika likes to discuss the activities of "cats" that are quite prone to doing things. Rika is the reason for all the problems as the Big Bad wants to kill her. | |
Spy Speak / int_58808436 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_58808436 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Higurashi: When They Cry (Visual Novel) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_58808436 | |
Spy Speak / int_5ac26020 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5ac26020 | comment |
Quest of the Delta Knights: The Delta Knights use Sign/Countersign to identify each other. | |
Spy Speak / int_5ac26020 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5ac26020 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Quest of the Delta Knights | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5ac26020 | |
Spy Speak / int_5ada53ed | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5ada53ed | comment |
When James Bond meets with his Japanese contact he gives her the Sign "I love you" to identify himself to her. She doesn't give him a Countersign to verify that she is his contact, which causes him to be suspicious of her. Later on Tiger Tanaka gives him the Countersign, which causes Bond to trust him. | |
Spy Speak / int_5ada53ed | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5ada53ed | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
James Bond | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5ada53ed | |
Spy Speak / int_5b8abe25 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5b8abe25 | comment |
Type 2 Example: In Rusty and Co., some halfling rogues have a complete conversation entirely in Thieves' Cant about a job they declined and the amount of help they need escaping their potential employers. | |
Spy Speak / int_5b8abe25 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5b8abe25 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Rusty and Co. (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5b8abe25 | |
Spy Speak / int_5c24d50a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5c24d50a | comment |
Alec and the Baron's cryptic exchange about mice and elephants in Missile X: The Neutron Bomb Incident. | |
Spy Speak / int_5c24d50a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5c24d50a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Missile X: The Neutron Bomb Incident | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5c24d50a | |
Spy Speak / int_5c897f4a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5c897f4a | comment |
Done in Schlock Mercenary quite often, between teams of mercs/soldiers. Subverted when Schlock announces to the room that he's found their contact after completing the phrase. Another instance had former intelligence analyst Kathryn captured by a spy. She flukes his call-and-response, then realizes a few strips later what has happened when he tries to get her to report. As an ex-analyst, she knows about the code, but not how to use it, which makes her a bigger target. |
|
Spy Speak / int_5c897f4a | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Spy Speak / int_5c897f4a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5c897f4a | |
Spy Speak / int_5ce98a6d | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5ce98a6d | comment |
Enter the Matrix: Niobe and Ghost's cryptic messages on airport pay-phones (something about "a bouquet of roses delivered at midnight"). | |
Spy Speak / int_5ce98a6d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5ce98a6d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Enter the Matrix (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5ce98a6d | |
Spy Speak / int_5cf2cc92 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5cf2cc92 | comment |
The Palace: In the first episode, Superintendent Bayfield informs Prince Richard of his father's passing with the words "tower bridge." Presumably they settled on the signal long ago in case the news needed to be broken in a public location, such as the nightclub bathroom where the scene occurs.In Real Life, all the senior royal's funerals are planned well in advance, as befits such a complicated ceremony. To make it easier to talk about, each funeral is assigned the name of a bridge as a code name. The Queen Mother's was called "Tay Bridge" after a bridge in her Scottish homeland. The Sovereign's funeral is always code-named "Tower Bridge" | |
Spy Speak / int_5cf2cc92 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5cf2cc92 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Palace | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5cf2cc92 | |
Spy Speak / int_5feb5688 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_5feb5688 | comment |
Also parodied in John Dies at the End: | |
Spy Speak / int_5feb5688 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_5feb5688 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
John Dies at the End | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_5feb5688 | |
Spy Speak / int_6059ad6b | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_6059ad6b | comment |
xkcd Spoofed with Summer Glau. And again in this strip |
|
Spy Speak / int_6059ad6b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_6059ad6b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
xkcd (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_6059ad6b | |
Spy Speak / int_60e46926 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_60e46926 | comment |
MAD did a satire on Mission: Impossible skewering about all the standard spy craft in it. In this satire, Jim got his orders from a coke machine in a cinema lobby, which burst into flames. A couple in the background, watching all of this said, "That's the most suspicious thing I've seen in my life." From then on, when ever something "spy-ish" took place, there was a couple observing it who said the same thing. | |
Spy Speak / int_60e46926 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_60e46926 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
MAD (Magazine) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_60e46926 | |
Spy Speak / int_611c72dc | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_611c72dc | comment |
The Star Trek novel "Enemy Unseen" dealt with an murderous imposter who could mimic any of the crew. In order to protect their key witness, Captain Kirk gives the security guards protecting the witness orders to demand anyone (including himself) who wishes to see the "prisoner" respond to the statement "'Tis a wee bit early for playing poker, is it not sir?" Anyone who doesn't respond immediately with "It's later than you think," is to be stunned and taken into custody. | |
Spy Speak / int_611c72dc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_611c72dc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Trek Novel Verse | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_611c72dc | |
Spy Speak / int_629cd094 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_629cd094 | comment |
There is a sidequest in Dragon Age: Origins involving gaining entrance to a secret meeting using the phrase "the griffins will rise again". The Warden has the option of being silly and saying either "sausage" or "the grey nug flies north for the winter" instead. | |
Spy Speak / int_629cd094 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_629cd094 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dragon Age: Origins (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_629cd094 | |
Spy Speak / int_63c1175b | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_63c1175b | comment |
Ultra Fast Pony: In "Stay Tuned!", Rainbow Dash pranks Twilight Sparkle by telling her to give a sign/countersign at a dropoff. The sign is nonsense, and completely unnecessary. | |
Spy Speak / int_63c1175b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_63c1175b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ultra Fast Pony (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_63c1175b | |
Spy Speak / int_65d07453 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_65d07453 | comment |
In Captain America: The First Avenger, when Peggy takes Steve to the secret military lab, she has a casual conversation with an elderly lady about the weather. The elderly lady says "Wonderful weather, isn't it?" Peggy responds, "Yes, but I always carry an umbrella," which is the code phrase to signal that she is headed to the lab. | |
Spy Speak / int_65d07453 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_65d07453 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Captain America: The First Avenger | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_65d07453 | |
Spy Speak / int_67eb8c05 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_67eb8c05 | comment |
Pizza Tycoon: You can buy weapons from the mob (to wreck your competitors' places). Naturally, this is illegal, so you can't just ask for them; if you do, the dealer sics the cops on you. Instead, you have to order ice cream... at thousands of dollars a "scoop". Same thing if you bribe the police. Openly offering a bribe will get you busted. Asking the cop if he "lost this wallet" on the other hand... |
|
Spy Speak / int_67eb8c05 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_67eb8c05 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Pizza Tycoon (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_67eb8c05 | |
Spy Speak / int_686684b0 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_686684b0 | comment |
Mr. Verres, being a government agent, gets to use this from time to time. Unfortunately, some things sound less cool in code. | |
Spy Speak / int_686684b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_686684b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Men in Black | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_686684b0 | |
Spy Speak / int_6ab90755 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_6ab90755 | comment |
Played with in A Very Secret Service. Calot tries to warn his colleagues that in the context of the Cold War, any word or sentence could be code for something sinister. Moulinier laughs it off, but just before he goes to a summit Berlin, a rookie agent intercepts a telegram saying "The monkey is in the rocket". Moulinier spends the entire summit wondering what this could mean, and in trying to tease out the message's meaning, inadvertently causes a massive crisis that leads the Russians to install missiles in Cuba. At the end of the episode, it turns out that the message was about the Americans literally sending a chimpanzee into space. So naturally, when Moulinier reads another intercepted telegram warning of an "imminent landing in the Bay of Pigs", he dismisses it as "just a bunch of pigs going for a swim"... | |
Spy Speak / int_6ab90755 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_6ab90755 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A Very Secret Service | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_6ab90755 | |
Spy Speak / int_6ac55ec7 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_6ac55ec7 | comment |
Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon magazine Issue #8, adventure "For a Lady's Honor". When a group of thieves is ordered to make contact with a client of the Thieves' Guild, they and the contact must identify themselves to each other using code phrases. Issue #66 adventure "Operation Manta Ray". The Player Characters are hired to rescue a Sembian government agent from the Pirate Port of Immurk's Hold. When they meet the agent, they are to identify themselves to each other using specific phrases. Polyhedron magazine Issue #74 article "The Ill Eagle Inn". The Ill Eagle Inn is the site of an operation that fences stolen goods. When a thief wants to sell something, he tells the waitress that he would like to ask the owner Sorduel for a recommendation about what food to order. When the owner arrives, they go through an extended Sign/Countersign routine (see below), after which the owner slips the customer a note telling them when to return for a private meeting. Issue #134 adventure "Intrigue in Raam". When members of the Veiled Alliance secret society in the city of Raam want to identify each other, they use a Sign/Countersign routine. |
|
Spy Speak / int_6ac55ec7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_6ac55ec7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dungeons & Dragons (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_6ac55ec7 | |
Spy Speak / int_6c9193a1 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_6c9193a1 | comment |
The Venture Brothers: This is used by secretive organizations like the Office of Secret Intelligence and the Guild of Calamitous Intent. It is occasionally lampshaded. Pete White: And another in "Red Means Stop" when the Guild and OSI briefly team up. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and Hunter Gathers apparently had a communications breakdown at some point because they're using different codes, so they decide to drop it and speak normally instead. |
|
Spy Speak / int_6c9193a1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_6c9193a1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
TheVentureBrothers | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_6c9193a1 | |
Spy Speak / int_700279ec | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_700279ec | comment |
Drive: Agents of the Jinyiwei identify themselves with a call-and-response, one agent presses their left fist into their right palm and says "this fist moves mountains" and the other presses their right into left and responds "this fist moves stars." They and the imperial Familia also have secret languages of hand signs for covert communication. | |
Spy Speak / int_700279ec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_700279ec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Drive (Dave Kellett) (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_700279ec | |
Spy Speak / int_72262aee | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_72262aee | comment |
Avatar: The Last Airbender The Order of the White Lotus members use this. Before this, they actually had a Spy Board Game which also started off with two lines of coded dialogue. The trick is that to a non-member the proper sequence just seems like an old-fashioned strategy. |
|
Spy Speak / int_72262aee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_72262aee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Avatar: The Last Airbender | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_72262aee | |
Spy Speak / int_72a1ac51 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_72a1ac51 | comment |
In a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas mission cutscene, you overhear government agent Mike Toreno's radio conversation: | |
Spy Speak / int_72a1ac51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_72a1ac51 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_72a1ac51 | |
Spy Speak / int_72e7d7f6 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_72e7d7f6 | comment |
In the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery Murder Must Advertise, the drug ring that Inspector Parker is investigating uses Nutrax, a brand of pills, as a password. It can be written on a note, worked into casual conversation or printed on something you are carrying — doesn't matter. Give the password in any form, and they'll hand you a package of drugs. This gets a minor character in trouble halfway through the book, as he unwittingly quotes the product's slogan and half a pound of high-grade cocaïne is slipped into his pocket. | |
Spy Speak / int_72e7d7f6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_72e7d7f6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Lord Peter Wimsey | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_72e7d7f6 | |
Spy Speak / int_74ff2ce0 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_74ff2ce0 | comment |
In Mr. Standfast, the German spy ring uses the closing lines of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Wanderer's Nightsong" ("The little birds in the forest are silent." / "Wait, soon you will rest too.") as their sign and countersign. The first time the hero hears it, he narrates that it is | |
Spy Speak / int_74ff2ce0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_74ff2ce0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mr. Standfast | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_74ff2ce0 | |
Spy Speak / int_7547afee | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_7547afee | comment |
Max Manus. A member of La Résistance who moves his location every night tells Max to contact him by asking at a bakery for a Turkish pretzel. Max asks what they should do if they're given a Turkish pretzel instead, and is told there's no such thing, which is immediately disputed by the others. | |
Spy Speak / int_7547afee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_7547afee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Max Manus | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_7547afee | |
Spy Speak / int_77164bc | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_77164bc | comment |
This was a major part of The Brak Show episode "Shadows of Heat", where Brak's dad is involved in some conspiracy along with George Martinez, Hector Riviera and Rudolfo the Butcher. It turns out they're planning Hector's bachelor party. | |
Spy Speak / int_77164bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_77164bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Brak Show | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_77164bc | |
Spy Speak / int_771fc130 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_771fc130 | comment |
As Delta Green is all about the top secret inter-departmental conspiracy that deals with the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos, there's a fair bit of this. For instance, the most common way to let an agent know they've got a mission is to call them up and say, "You are invited to a night at the opera." | |
Spy Speak / int_771fc130 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_771fc130 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Delta Green (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_771fc130 | |
Spy Speak / int_788656c0 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_788656c0 | comment |
In Star Trek: Cold Equations, Thot Raas of the Breen has this to say in a transmission to his superior: ‘At sunset, the weevil digs in the grain. Raptors circle the hollow. The steed stands in the forest. The farmer must ring the bell before dark.’ | |
Spy Speak / int_788656c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_788656c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Trek: Cold Equations | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_788656c0 | |
Spy Speak / int_7a380f3b | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_7a380f3b | comment |
On General Hospital, Luke and Laura are separated from their son Lucky when they realized that they needed to go on the run. Laura quickly left him a perfectly normal sounding message—“There’s been a change in plans. Your dad and I are going bowling tonight, and you can find your dinner in the freezer.�—in order to alert him that he needed to escape quickly too (the “dinner� was cash that he’d need for his trip). | |
Spy Speak / int_7a380f3b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_7a380f3b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
General Hospital | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_7a380f3b | |
Spy Speak / int_7aefccf3 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_7aefccf3 | comment |
In Hotline Miami, Jacket receives his orders via seemingly mundane telephone messages, such as reminders of invitations and appointments, all mentioning specific addresses. Obviously, his actual orders are to go to said addresses and murder everyone there. At the end of the game, it’s revealed that other people have been receiving the calls, and that the culprits were a pair of janitors. Finding all the secret letters and assembling their password reveals that they work for an violently patriotic group called 50 Blessings. | |
Spy Speak / int_7aefccf3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_7aefccf3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Hotline Miami (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_7aefccf3 | |
Spy Speak / int_7f9362a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_7f9362a | comment |
The Assignment (1997) is about a US naval officer who has an uncanny resemblance to Carlos the Jackal, so he's recruited in a CIA/Mossad scheme to discredit the terrorist. Another terrorist who knows the real Carlos accidentally runs into this Doppelgänger at Heathrow Airport. The protagonist tries to bluff his way out by pretending to be Carlos, but when the terrorist responds, "I need to buy a newspaper" realizes too late that it's a password to which he doesn't know the countersign — his life is only saved by the intervention of a Mossad agent who gets killed in the process. Afterwards his CIA handler mentions a similar incident where he was forced to kill a man who didn't respond with the correct countersign, and later uses this story to tell the difference between the protagonist and the real Carlos. | |
Spy Speak / int_7f9362a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_7f9362a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Assignment (1997) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_7f9362a | |
Spy Speak / int_80942169 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_80942169 | comment |
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide: | |
Spy Speak / int_80942169 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_80942169 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_80942169 | |
Spy Speak / int_8197ebd8 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8197ebd8 | comment |
General Protection Fault: Fooker receives a message in spy speak, but he replies in plain English. | |
Spy Speak / int_8197ebd8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_8197ebd8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
General Protection Fault (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8197ebd8 | |
Spy Speak / int_82439e64 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_82439e64 | comment |
In an episode of The Office, (Season 9, "A.A.R.M.") Dwight installs unnecessary security measures at Dunder Mifflin including a scripted exchange that the employees must have with the receptionist, Erin, in order to be let through the door, even though Erin can clearly see the employee through the glass. | |
Spy Speak / int_82439e64 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_82439e64 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Office (US) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_82439e64 | |
Spy Speak / int_83981e71 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_83981e71 | comment |
Zeppelin (1971). The protagonist is a British officer of German descent who pretends to defect to the other side. Once in Germany, he goes into a tailor shop and asks for "blue bunting". The tailor doesn't know what he's talking about. In some confusion he leaves, then abruptly re-enters the shop and says, "Bunting blue!" The tailor snaps back in English, "It's about time; I've been waiting for you for weeks!" | |
Spy Speak / int_83981e71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_83981e71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Zeppelin | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_83981e71 | |
Spy Speak / int_84782a62 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_84782a62 | comment |
A Bit of Fry and Laurie: In one sketch, a hapless customer encounters a Cloudcuckoolander shopkeeper who turns out to be a spy whose secret activation code phrase is... "Good morning". It doesn't work out very well. Also hilariously Averted in the "Tony and Control" sketches, which feature two high-ranking intelligence officials who speak in simple naive terms that you could almost use if talking to a three-year-old. |
|
Spy Speak / int_84782a62 | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_84782a62 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A Bit of Fry and Laurie | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_84782a62 | |
Spy Speak / int_86411694 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_86411694 | comment |
Used in the The Bourne Ultimatum. It is revealed that the closing lines to the previous movie were in fact impromptu Spy Speak, and that Bourne had somehow deduced the exact meaning of the code without knowing anything about the place being talked about. The eavesdropping villains take a long time to figure it out in spite of actually knowing the secret already. | |
Spy Speak / int_86411694 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_86411694 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Bourne Ultimatum | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_86411694 | |
Spy Speak / int_86772227 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_86772227 | comment |
In Knights of the Dinner Table, players will occasionally use "player advantage codes" to communicate with each other without the game master knowing (e.g. when one player has important information that his character shouldn't be able to pass along to the rest of the party). The technique loses its effectiveness as game masters get wise to it. | |
Spy Speak / int_86772227 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_86772227 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Knights of the Dinner Table (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_86772227 | |
Spy Speak / int_86814cc3 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_86814cc3 | comment |
Final Fantasy II plays this trope straight, requiring one to get a code from NPC A and give it to NPC B every now and then. This contributed to its Broken Base among fans. | |
Spy Speak / int_86814cc3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_86814cc3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Final Fantasy II (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_86814cc3 | |
Spy Speak / int_86c3beca | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_86c3beca | comment |
Girl Genius: Smoke Knight Violetta coerced two other Smoke Knights (who were functionally invisible to everyone but Violetta) to reveal themselves by uttering the phrase. "All shadows are to come into the light." | |
Spy Speak / int_86c3beca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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Girl Genius (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_86c3beca | |
Spy Speak / int_880cfa15 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_880cfa15 | comment |
Hogan's Heroes varies between speaking plainly and using code, apparently completely at random. Even the people they talk to in England sometimes get confused — at one point they spend a great deal of effort trying to decipher the code Hogan is using when he said his courier would be a chimpanzee. It takes a while for them to realize that the courier genuinely is a trained chimp. | |
Spy Speak / int_880cfa15 | featureApplicability |
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Hogan's Heroes | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_888d1e4a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_888d1e4a | comment |
Silver Quill: In "After the Fact: Slice of Life", after criticizing the episode's twist that Sweetie Drops is a secret agent, Silver is confronted by one cryptically talking mare... | |
Spy Speak / int_888d1e4a | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_888d1e4a | |
Spy Speak / int_88b2df76 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_88b2df76 | comment |
In Delicious 8: Emily's Wonder Wedding Patrick, who was stuck in the hospital in Ireland on the original wedding day, decides to surprise Emily by having a destination wedding, complete with a priest from back home. | |
Spy Speak / int_88b2df76 | featureApplicability |
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Delicious (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_88b2df76 | |
Spy Speak / int_8ba43df | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8ba43df | comment |
John Wick: If you need corpses removed and their blood cleaned from the walls, you call Charlie and make a "dinner reservation for [x]", [x] being the number of bodies that need disposal. "Noise complaint" is a code the underworld uses for shootings in off-limits areas, as happens when Miss Perkins tries to kill John in his Continental room to cash in on Viggo's bounty. This exchange as John speaks to the bouncer at the Red Circle is him asking for a read on how many guards Viggo has inside. In John Wick: Chapter 2, the entirety of the scene in the Rome Continental where John is obtaining guns from the Sommelier, as they plan for John's 'party' (code for "assassination followed by a likely bloody exfiltration"). A "tasting" means that a buyer is ready to shop. Something "robust, precise" can refer to a custom-made AR-15 assault rifle. Something "big, bold" can refer to the Benelli M4 Shotgun. Though, amusingly, even he is caught off-guard when John refers to bladed weaponry as "dessert", which ends up being an assortment of freshly sharpened steel knives. The tailor who creates John's suit for the event also uses this language, asking John if this is a "formal occasion" (one-shot one-kill) or a "social affair" (multiple targets). |
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Spy Speak / int_8ba43df | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_8ba43df | featureConfidence |
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John Wick | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8ba43df | |
Spy Speak / int_8ba4613a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8ba4613a | comment |
Death Note: As part of his Memory Gambit, Light arranges with Ryuk that him saying "get rid of it" in any context would act as confirmation for relinquishing the Note. Then, in police custody he says that he needs to get rid of his pride. Once Ryuk recalls what he's supposed to do, Light loses all of his Kira-related memories. An ad hoc variant when Matsuda is accosted by the Yotsuba group. This (slightly paraphrased) conversation takes place over mobile phones: This, naturally, meant he was in trouble. More subtle version: Light calls Mikami, and manages to give him very careful directions as to how to act as the latest Kira... without ever tipping off his dinner partner. |
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Death Note (Manga) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8ba4613a | |
Spy Speak / int_8c477f44 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8c477f44 | comment |
Peter Is the Wolf has an extensive code language for lycanthropes and informed Muggles. | |
Spy Speak / int_8c477f44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_8c477f44 | featureConfidence |
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Peter Is the Wolf (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8c477f44 | |
Spy Speak / int_8c87467 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8c87467 | comment |
Attempted near the end of Green Wing when Joanna and Statham are fleeing the police. | |
Spy Speak / int_8c87467 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_8c87467 | featureConfidence |
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Green Wing | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8c87467 | |
Spy Speak / int_8cb3a247 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8cb3a247 | comment |
Subverted in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where the Muggle character Frank Bryce assumes that two men (Voldemort and Pettigrew) discussing wizards, witches, Quidditch and the Ministry of Magic are using code, but they actually mean exactly what they say. (Actually assigning the terms "Muggles", "Wizards", and "Ministry" a one-to-one relationship with gangs or government branches yields some really convoluted politics.) | |
Spy Speak / int_8cb3a247 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Spy Speak / int_8cb3a247 | featureConfidence |
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8cb3a247 | |
Spy Speak / int_8d814070 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8d814070 | comment |
The mysterious U.S. spy Col. Flagg on M*A*S*H uses this in official communications, though also in regular speech. He favors the unrelated phrases variety. | |
Spy Speak / int_8d814070 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_8d814070 | featureConfidence |
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M*A*S*H | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8d814070 | |
Spy Speak / int_8d817ccb | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8d817ccb | comment |
Lost: Subversion: in the episode "The Man from Tallahassee", Locke is hiding in Ben's closet with a gun to Alex's head. Ben asks Richard to bring him the "Man from Tallahassee". Afterward, Locke asks if that was a code. Ben replies, "No, John, unfortunately we don't have a code for 'There's a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head.' Although we obviously should." The best example is in season 4. |
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Spy Speak / int_8d817ccb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_8d817ccb | featureConfidence |
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Lost | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8d817ccb | |
Spy Speak / int_8d98042f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8d98042f | comment |
In the Game Grumps LP of Sonic Shuffle, Dan is so bewildered by a seemingly inexplicable string of text ("The Carbuncle ate itself") that he compares it to this. | |
Spy Speak / int_8d98042f | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_8d98042f | featureConfidence |
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Game Grumps (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8d98042f | |
Spy Speak / int_8dd0bbcc | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8dd0bbcc | comment |
V.F.D. in A Series of Unfortunate Events uses the "sign/countersign" form for "volunteers" to identify each other; for instance, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a sad occasion" is answered with "The world is quiet here." | |
Spy Speak / int_8dd0bbcc | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_8dd0bbcc | featureConfidence |
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A Series of Unfortunate Events | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8dd0bbcc | |
Spy Speak / int_8f36f969 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_8f36f969 | comment |
In The Loud House episode "Fool Me Twice", when the family conducts a secret meeting in the hopes of outsmarting Luan with April Fools' Day approaching once again, they have to disguise themselves and meet at a secluded location where she won't find them. During this time, this exchange between Mr. Loud and Lincoln occurs: | |
Spy Speak / int_8f36f969 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_8f36f969 | featureConfidence |
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The Loud House | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_8f36f969 | |
Spy Speak / int_90856e8d | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_90856e8d | comment |
In Vision of the Future Han Solo, suspecting that his communications were being monitored by Imperial ships, sent a message to Lando Calrissian to rendezvous with him "two systems rimward from where you had no choice". In other words, two systems towards the galactic rim from Bespin, where Lando was forced to hand Han and Leia over to Vader. (Alluding to his line, "Sorry, Han, but I had no choice.") Later in the same novel, General bel Iblis issues a recall order to two Rogue Squadron pilots (who are operating anonymously) reading simply "This is father. All is forgiven; come home at once." | |
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Spy Speak / int_90856e8d | featureConfidence |
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Hand of Thrawn | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_90856e8d | |
Spy Speak / int_909ca4b1 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_909ca4b1 | comment |
Parodied with two of Megabyte's cronies in ReBoot, who would confound and annoy their boss by speaking in nonsensical codes: | |
Spy Speak / int_909ca4b1 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_909ca4b1 | featureConfidence |
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ReBoot | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_909ca4b1 | |
Spy Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | comment |
In the two-part Kim Possible fanfic "Vacation from the Norm" (part 1, part 2), Gemini's World-Wide Evil Empire (WWEE) has infiltrated Global Justice. In Part 2, Betty Director communicates this to Will Du, using a code exchange only known by the two of them, and inspired by Monty Python: | |
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Spy Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | featureConfidence |
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Kim Possible | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | |
Spy Speak / int_90a62d7d | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_90a62d7d | comment |
Parodied in Hot Shots! Part Deux. The radio controller is trying to warn the good guys that enemies are about to attack, using phrases like "The vultures are circling the carcass", "The pit bull is out of the cage", "The Crips are raiding the liquor store". The guy on the other end has no idea what he's talking about. The first phrase used is "Indians on the warpath in your area." This line (and the three prior lines) are a Shout-Out to a similar scene in The Guns of Navarone which used almost identical dialogue. | |
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Spy Speak / int_90a62d7d | featureConfidence |
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Hot Shots! Part Deux | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_90a62d7d | |
Spy Speak / int_90f42a9b | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_90f42a9b | comment |
In one of The Wheel of Time books, Taim sends Rand a note that reads, "I picked that bush myself. A small bush, and thorny, but a good number of berries nonetheless." It's an extended metaphor. The "bush" is the Two Rivers, the backwater region where Rand grew up. "Berries" are men with the potential to channel. "Small" and "thorny" mean exactly what they look like. | |
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The Wheel of Time | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_90f42a9b | |
Spy Speak / int_915ce702 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_915ce702 | comment |
Star Wars Resistance: In "The First Order Occupation", Kaz substitutes "food" for "spy" when warning pirate spy Synara that she has to get off the Colossus because the First Order is onto her. | |
Spy Speak / int_915ce702 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_915ce702 | featureConfidence |
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Star Wars Resistance | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_915ce702 | |
Spy Speak / int_93683e89 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_93683e89 | comment |
Parodied in a Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch where it turned out that only one of the men involved was a spy; the other was cruising. ("Spy? Spy? No boyfriend of mine goes out to work!") | |
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Not the Nine O'Clock News | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_93fb9c70 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_93fb9c70 | comment |
Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman: The pass phrase to get into Mecánico's work shop is "I want you to check my oil. You will need to go very deep." Mecánico apparently chose it because he thinks it sounds cool, and others feel awkward saying it. Santiago later tries to use it as Trust Password with the Machine Gun Woman. | |
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Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_93fb9c70 | |
Spy Speak / int_95818d99 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_95818d99 | comment |
Christopher Mills uses this to get in contact with Garcian Smith in Killer7. Whenever he has a new assignment for him, he leaves a message on his answering machine, pretending to be calling around on behalf of the Republic Party (to prevent wire tapping), which serves as a signal for Harman to come see him at the overpass. | |
Spy Speak / int_95818d99 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_95818d99 | featureConfidence |
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Killer7 (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_95818d99 | |
Spy Speak / int_960062b7 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_960062b7 | comment |
In My Hero Academia, All For One has a phone conversation with his accomplices, Yuga Aoyama's parents, who have just been released from police custody. He asks for a "40 year old Macallan," and Aoyama's mother offers "one aged 16 years," presumably referencing All Might(the previous holder of One For All, who's in his middle ages) and Izuku Midoriya(the current holder of One For All, who's 16, respectively. All For One concludes the conversation by asking his accomplice to have their son deliver it(as in lure Midoriya into a trap) and looks forward to being able to give up the "ridiculous" codes. | |
Spy Speak / int_960062b7 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_960062b7 | |
Spy Speak / int_97c38790 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_97c38790 | comment |
Dungeon magazine Issue #8, adventure "For a Lady's Honor". When a group of thieves is ordered to make contact with a client of the Thieves' Guild, they and the contact must identify themselves to each other using code phrases. Issue #66 adventure "Operation Manta Ray". The Player Characters are hired to rescue a Sembian government agent from the Pirate Port of Immurk's Hold. When they meet the agent, they are to identify themselves to each other using specific phrases. |
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Spy Speak / int_97c38790 | featureApplicability |
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Dungeon (Magazine) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_97c38790 | |
Spy Speak / int_987ae287 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_987ae287 | comment |
Done in Cars 2 between Holly Shiftwell and Mater — she (incorrectly) identifies Mater as a fellow spy when he correctly answers obscure questions about the air cooling used by Volkswagen engines. | |
Spy Speak / int_987ae287 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_987ae287 | featureConfidence |
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Cars 2 | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_987ae287 | |
Spy Speak / int_988629da | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_988629da | comment |
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan had a variant on this. Spock and Kirk, discussing repair estimates to the Enterprise, used a code that substituted days for hours. This made Khan (who was eavesdropping on the conversation) believe Kirk's ship was hopelessly crippled. | |
Spy Speak / int_988629da | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_988629da | featureConfidence |
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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_988629da | |
Spy Speak / int_996edf24 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_996edf24 | comment |
Wonder Woman Vol 1: Diana Prince and Steve Trevor have enough pre-arranged words and phrases that she's able to tell him the truth about the villain's real target in a letter the villain is forcing her to write to send the army on a wild goose chase, and which they read before sending to him. | |
Spy Speak / int_996edf24 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_996edf24 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Wonder Woman (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_996edf24 | |
Spy Speak / int_9a723507 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_9a723507 | comment |
In Leisure Suit Larry 2: Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places), Larry's hapless My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels attempt to woo a Spanish-speaking woman happen to be the sign/countersign to land him a microfilm full of state secrets and the pursuit of KGB agents who were supposed to receive it. | |
Spy Speak / int_9a723507 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_9a723507 | featureConfidence |
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Leisure Suit Larry 2: Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_9a723507 | |
Spy Speak / int_9ab32c13 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_9ab32c13 | comment |
In the Pony POV Series, Commander Bond has a spell that makes conversations he wants to keep private sound like they're entirely in this to whoever's trying to listen in. | |
Spy Speak / int_9ab32c13 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_9ab32c13 | featureConfidence |
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Pony POV Series / Fan Fic | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_9ab32c13 | |
Spy Speak / int_9dfa8216 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_9dfa8216 | comment |
Law & Order and other shows dealing with cops trying to catch Mafia dons run into Variant #1 a lot: the don orders a hit, the cops and DAs argue that it means murder-for-hire, and the defense attorney plaintively says "He was just asking about an apartment!" (Or whatever the on-the-face conversation was.) | |
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Spy Speak / int_9dfa8216 | featureConfidence |
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Law & Order (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_9dfa8216 | |
Spy Speak / int_9e0b4b87 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_9e0b4b87 | comment |
The Andromeda Strain (1971). Dr. Charles Dutton uses a Sign/Countersign routine with a guard to enter Project Wildfire. | |
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1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_9e0b4b87 | featureConfidence |
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The Andromeda Strain | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_9e0b4b87 | |
Spy Speak / int_9ef2c88e | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_9ef2c88e | comment |
Assassin's Creed: Initiates shows the Assassin Order sending e-mails like this, often using business terms which refer to the Templars and Abstergo as their main competitors or rivals. Adriano Maestranzi sends one e-mail to William Miles that states that one of their business associates had to leave Whistler, Canada because "he didn't want to be "buried" in work there, like his colleagues", and later follows it up by stating that their business rivals there were led by an old rival who "deceived" their CEO back in 2000. | |
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Assassin's Creed: Initiates (Website) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_9ef2c88e | |
Spy Speak / int_a02df5f5 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a02df5f5 | comment |
The Partners in Crime short story "Blind Man's Bluff" has an improvised metaphor code, as Tommy manages to tell Tuppence that she should phone Albert and get him to follow them when they leave the Blitz Hotel with their new clients, while apparently telling her to place an order with the hotel restaurant for tomorrow's dinner. | |
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Partners in Crime | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_a02df5f5 | |
Spy Speak / int_a2174d23 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a2174d23 | comment |
Used quite a bit in 'Allo 'Allo!. René repeatedly gets told codewords, which are generally misused, forgotten, given to the wrong person, and such. Commonly he'll skip straight past them with a line like "I know it's you, you old fool, now just give me the batteries." A classic example in episode 1 had the other person unable to deliver the line (asking for matches), as his cigarette is lit before he can say anything. Not only that, but René couldn't give the correct response ("I don't have any matches") as he had been given a box of them only a minute earlier by Lieutenant Gruber. And just to top it off, René ends up Mistaken for Gay. The code-talk over the radio is actually analyzed by the Gestapo at one point and found to make a twisted sort of sense. Officer Crabtree was supposed to bring René some dynamite, hidden in his trousers. He would say the line to René "You may notice I am walking very gingerly." But before he can get there, Lieutenant Gruber comes into the cafe and has this exchange with René: One time, René had the radio behind the bar in the cafe, and it started spouting code phrases intended for La Résistance members. Lieutenant Gruber gets suspicious, and asks where the nonsensical phrases like "Pierre enjoys riding his new bicycle" are coming from. René claims that he was the one speaking. That makes René all the more horrified when the next phrase emitted from the radio is "Listen very carefully. Meet me behind the woodshed at one o'clock," which Lieutenant Gruber mistakes for an overture for a homosexual tryst. |
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'Allo 'Allo! | hasFeature |
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Spy Speak / int_a32b6a64 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a32b6a64 | comment |
The West Wing had a version where if an national crisis took place during an public event in the White House someone would walk over to the cabinet-members, the President or whoever was needed and, as casually as posible, interrupt whatever they were doing with an "Excuse me, Leo McGarry [The President's Chief of Staff] would like you to say hello to an old friend of his", this meaning "Follow me, ASAP". | |
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The West Wing | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_a32b6a64 | |
Spy Speak / int_a3eca8c2 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a3eca8c2 | comment |
In Rose of Rapture the Yorkist heroine, Isabella, keeps getting letters from Margaret Beaufort, who she hardly knows. She realizes the letters contain coded messages for her husband, who is a friend of Margaret's son, Henry Tudor and they are plotting against Edward IV. | |
Spy Speak / int_a3eca8c2 | featureApplicability |
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Rose of Rapture | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_a3eca8c2 | |
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Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a4616794 | comment |
In Friendship is Witchcraft Applejack tells her friends "Tell Big Macintosh the eagle has landed in the pond, and there's a bomb strapped to the eagle." They fail to understand it. Even when she outright tells them she was being held against her will and there's a bomb, they stay completely oblivious. The only reason they didn't all die was because of Raincloud's Heroic Sacrifice. | |
Spy Speak / int_a4616794 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_a4616794 | featureConfidence |
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Friendship is Witchcraft (Web Video) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_a4616794 | |
Spy Speak / int_a6084750 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a6084750 | comment |
The Crown uses the phrase "Hyde Park Corner" to inform officials of George VI's death without it leaking to the press. As the new Queen is currently in Kenya on a safari with limited phone access there's a serious rush to contact her before she learns the news via the media. | |
Spy Speak / int_a6084750 | featureApplicability |
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The Crown (2016) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_a6084750 | |
Spy Speak / int_a695c23a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a695c23a | comment |
Towards the beginning of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Ethan walks into a record store and receives his mission by exchanging an extended sign/countersign sequence with the cashier disguised as a conversation about a particular jazz record. The covert nature of this conversation is promptly blown sky-high by the cashier saying Ethan's full name, but since the bad guys are already on to him this has negligible impact on the plot. | |
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Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_a695c23a | |
Spy Speak / int_a725fd30 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a725fd30 | comment |
In For Your Eyes Only, meeting a contact at a ski resort, they apparently comment on the quality of the piste in comparison to other resorts. | |
Spy Speak / int_a725fd30 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_a725fd30 | featureConfidence |
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For Your Eyes Only | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_a725fd30 | |
Spy Speak / int_a77de360 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_a77de360 | comment |
Parodied in the Dilbert cartoon, where one of the requirements in the beefed-up corporate security was speaking in codes like this, among other things... | |
Spy Speak / int_a77de360 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_a77de360 | featureConfidence |
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Dilbert | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_a77de360 | |
Spy Speak / int_ab42c63a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ab42c63a | comment |
Get Smart: Parodied, naturally, in the first episode. Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, who has yet to meet 99, has been told by the Chief that Agent 99 will approach Max in a public location by informing him of one team beating another in baseball. Unfortunately, that team actually manages to beat the other team on the day before, so everybody is saying it. Max almost ignores her until she says the score was 99 to 86. And the fact that it was "Mets win double header" that was such a remarkable headline might be a Take That! to the pre-'69 "Lovable Losers". Also spoofed with the ridiculous sign/countersign when Max first meet Hymie (which is useless anyway as Hymie has knocked on the door earlier pretending to be Max, waited till the Control agent gave the password, then knocked him out and repeated the password to Max when he shows up). On another occasion the sign/countersign is the lyrics to Dixie. Max and his contact end up singing a duet. In another, Max is supposed to whistle Yankee Doodle, when he spots the target for his boss to follow. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how it goes, so he has to ask someone. By the time, the target appears, he forgets to whistle and just says "Yankee Doodle, Yankee Doodle". His boss figures it out, though. |
|
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Get Smart | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ab42c63a | |
Spy Speak / int_abfcff6a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_abfcff6a | comment |
Featured as a gag in an early episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle, where we see a conversation between two Pottsylvanians that turns out to be in spy-speak, translated by the narrator. | |
Spy Speak / int_abfcff6a | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_abfcff6a | featureConfidence |
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Rocky and Bullwinkle | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_abfcff6a | |
Spy Speak / int_ac4b6a62 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ac4b6a62 | comment |
It's not really spies, but in Questionable Content, Faye is on the phone with her mother while she's having lunch with Marten. At the end of the conversation, she says, "The peaches are MOST DEFINITELY NOT RIPE. Goodbye." She then explains that it's their code word just in case Faye was taken against her will. | |
Spy Speak / int_ac4b6a62 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_ac4b6a62 | featureConfidence |
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Questionable Content (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ac4b6a62 | |
Spy Speak / int_ae3cad7b | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ae3cad7b | comment |
Peacemaker (2022): Played for Laughs. When preparing to assassinate a senator and his family, Economos calls them "The Berenstein Bears", referring to the targets individually as "Papa, Momma, Brother and Sister Bear" and their bodyguard, Judo Master, as "Cobra Kai". | |
Spy Speak / int_ae3cad7b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_ae3cad7b | featureConfidence |
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Peacemaker (2022) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ae3cad7b | |
Spy Speak / int_aed912f3 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_aed912f3 | comment |
For the Glory of Irk: At one point, Zeke uses the following pass-phrase exchange when contacting his informant. Zim and the others think it's a bad joke, and are confused by it. | |
Spy Speak / int_aed912f3 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_aed912f3 | featureConfidence |
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For the Glory of Irk (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_aed912f3 | |
Spy Speak / int_b0fc9724 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b0fc9724 | comment |
Saturday Night Live: An old sketch parodied WWII spy movies, with these lines: “Would you care to purchase a pair of mittens?� “It depends on the yarn.� “In Italy it is illegal to record the ring of a telephone.� “Which lasts longer, silk or rayon underwear?� “How do you say ‘tooth powder’ in Portuguese?� “Cats are nothing more than effeminate dogs.� “The fireplace has flown south for the winter.� “What do you say to a centipede on opening night? Break four or five legs.� A sketch that aired not long after 9/11 showed FBI agents wiretapping a phone call between two old ladies, losing interest as they slowly realized the conversation was innocuous, then suddenly paying attention again when an exchange like this would happen: (The seemingly subverted trope is ultimately played straight at the end of the sketch, after the FBI agents hang up, when it is revealed that the old ladies were actually planning a terrorist attack.) |
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Saturday Night Live | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b0fc9724 | |
Spy Speak / int_b1a93381 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b1a93381 | comment |
The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks: In book 1, Michael and his friend Jason start using codewords for the plants and their favorite food (referring to socks as pancakes, and later ice cream) in public. This gets dropped pretty quickly, though not before one of the nosier girls overhears them talking about "fudge ripple pancakes" and wants to know how to make them. | |
Spy Speak / int_b1a93381 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_b1a93381 | featureConfidence |
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The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b1a93381 | |
Spy Speak / int_b2ac2311 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b2ac2311 | comment |
At the start of one arc in Peanuts, Snoopy gets a letter that consists of three paw prints. "It must be from the Head Beagle," he muses, "it's in code!" (The next strip reveals that it says "Thompson is in Trouble!") | |
Spy Speak / int_b2ac2311 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_b2ac2311 | featureConfidence |
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Peanuts (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b2ac2311 | |
Spy Speak / int_b30ae4db | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b30ae4db | comment |
Game of Thrones: In "Mhysa," Joffrey receives a letter from Walder Frey informing him that Roslin caught "a fine fat trout" and her brothers gave him a pair of wolf pelts. Since a fish is the sigil of House Tully and a direwolf is the sigil of House Stark, this means that the Red Wedding was a success, with the Freys having killed Robb and Catelyn Stark and taken Catelyn's brother Edmure Tully(Roslin's groom) hostage. | |
Spy Speak / int_b30ae4db | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_b30ae4db | featureConfidence |
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Game of Thrones | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b30ae4db | |
Spy Speak / int_b3f687d1 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b3f687d1 | comment |
There's a FoxTrot strip where Peter and Denise have a phone conversation in Spy Speak ("The heavy flag flaps not at night."); the final panel shows Jason, who has a complete wiretapping rig, telling Marcus "I think they're onto us.". | |
Spy Speak / int_b3f687d1 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_b3f687d1 | featureConfidence |
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FoxTrot (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b3f687d1 | |
Spy Speak / int_b4e9ccb0 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b4e9ccb0 | comment |
Partially parodied in The Saint: | |
Spy Speak / int_b4e9ccb0 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_b4e9ccb0 | featureConfidence |
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The Saint (1997) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b4e9ccb0 | |
Spy Speak / int_b5ab36eb | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b5ab36eb | comment |
You Only Live Twice When James Bond meets with his Japanese contact he gives her the Sign "I love you" to identify himself to her. She doesn't give him a Countersign to verify that she is his contact, which causes him to be suspicious of her. Later on Tiger Tanaka gives him the Countersign, which causes Bond to trust him. While Bond is flying "Little Nellie", he's attacked by four SPECTRE helicopters. After destroying them he calls Tiger Tanaka and tells him what happened in Metaphor form. |
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Spy Speak / int_b5ab36eb | featureApplicability |
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You Only Live Twice | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b5ab36eb | |
Spy Speak / int_b8e28f2e | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b8e28f2e | comment |
The season 2 premiere of Good Omens has a brief bit of this as a gag. Crowley is reading the newspaper on a park bench, in a park that was established in season 1 to be a meeting place for spies, politicians, and dignitaries up to secret business. | |
Spy Speak / int_b8e28f2e | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_b8e28f2e | featureConfidence |
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Good Omens (2019) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b8e28f2e | |
Spy Speak / int_b9419bd1 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b9419bd1 | comment |
In one of the sidequests in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Jensen has to meet a contact to pick up an autopsy report. The contact, who is obviously a geek who is just doing things this way because he takes the whole thing too seriously, is supposed to be greeted by the code phrase "Life and death have their determined appointments." Jensen can play it professionally and use the phrase like he's supposed to. Alternately, (and hilariously) he can dismiss the whole thing saying "Something something, death and taxes. Confucius." Or he can just walk up to the contact and demand the information. | |
Spy Speak / int_b9419bd1 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_b9419bd1 | featureConfidence |
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Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b9419bd1 | |
Spy Speak / int_b9e865f1 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_b9e865f1 | comment |
Subverted hilariously in Logan Lucky. Joe Bang (Daniel Craig, who knows his Spy Speak) is visited in prison by his brothers; he tells them to go to "the bear in the woods" and collect the "bag" for Joe. The brothers go to the woods, they meet a man in a bear costume, and he gives them a bag. | |
Spy Speak / int_b9e865f1 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
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Logan Lucky | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_b9e865f1 | |
Spy Speak / int_ba666650 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ba666650 | comment |
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, as a prequel title, has one of the big questions of MGS2 as a call sign for Snake to identify himself to ADAM: "Who are the patriots?" The correct reply "La Li Lu Le Lo" (which is like the XYZ in the Japanese letter system) also explains how that phrase became an alternate name for the Patriots, since Snake and ADAM were among the founders of the organization they later called "The Patriots". | |
Spy Speak / int_ba666650 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_ba666650 | featureConfidence |
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Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ba666650 | |
Spy Speak / int_baa97a52 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_baa97a52 | comment |
Done in a simple yet effective manner in Tenet: the code is just one word, "Tenet", combined with a simple hand gesture. This allows agents to identify each other by slipping the word into a seemingly innocuous sentence that would not seem strange if heard by the wrong person. | |
Spy Speak / int_baa97a52 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_baa97a52 | featureConfidence |
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Tenet | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_baa97a52 | |
Spy Speak / int_bb3fde3d | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_bb3fde3d | comment |
Danny Phantom: | |
Spy Speak / int_bb3fde3d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_bb3fde3d | featureConfidence |
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Danny Phantom | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_bb3fde3d | |
Spy Speak / int_bcb32dc6 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_bcb32dc6 | comment |
Shadowrun adventure DNA/DOA. After the runners complete their mission, they are told to go and meet their contact. To identify himself, the contact will ask if the sky is still blue, and the person he talks to is to respond that it hasn't been since they were a child. | |
Spy Speak / int_bcb32dc6 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_bcb32dc6 | featureConfidence |
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Shadowrun (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_bcb32dc6 | |
Spy Speak / int_bd310eaa | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_bd310eaa | comment |
El Goonish Shive: Mr. Verres, being a government agent, gets to use this from time to time. Unfortunately, some things sound less cool in code. Grace once sent Justin a letter written in extremely nerdy language. It was not pre-arranged between them, but Justin understands it perfectly: |
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Spy Speak / int_bd310eaa | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_bd310eaa | featureConfidence |
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El Goonish Shive (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_bd310eaa | |
Spy Speak / int_be677f0e | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_be677f0e | comment |
The "metaphor" variant is used in A Game of Thrones, when one of the young Stark children overhears two spymasters comparing notes on the goings on in the court and debating how to proceed with their individual schemes. Unfortunately, the child in question doesn't have the context to understand what they are talking about (while the reader has only some context at that point), so none of the "good guys" are able to benefit from the inside info this could have provided. | |
Spy Speak / int_be677f0e | featureApplicability |
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A Game of Thrones | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_be677f0e | |
Spy Speak / int_bf24c7bb | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_bf24c7bb | comment |
Chernobyl: When Ulana Khomyuk can't get through to the power plant in Chernobyl, she calls a physicist she knows in Moscow to get information about what's happening. Knowing that the phones are almost certainly being monitored by the KGB they discuss the "hot weather" and a friend who's flying in with their children. The names and ages of the "children" are actually codes for elements on the periodic table, which is how Khomyuk works out that they're dumping sand and boron in an attempt to put out the fire. | |
Spy Speak / int_bf24c7bb | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_bf24c7bb | featureConfidence |
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Chernobyl | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_bf24c7bb | |
Spy Speak / int_c10dc0ac | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_c10dc0ac | comment |
In the second book of The Babysitters Club, the girls are worried about the possibility of a crook from the news (or any crook for that matter) showing up while they're on the job and how suspicious it would look for them to call the police so they come up with the following: The girl who thinks there's something up calls up a friend and asks "Have you found my red ribbon?" The person receiving the call responds "No; the blue one." which is followed by "Oh; that's okay." if the caller isn't sure there's trouble or "Now I'm gonna get it." to signify "I'm in deep trouble; call the police ASAP!" | |
Spy Speak / int_c10dc0ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_c10dc0ac | featureConfidence |
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The Baby-Sitters Club | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_c10dc0ac | |
Spy Speak / int_c56c235a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_c56c235a | comment |
Clear and Present Danger: Spy Speak pervades the film. "Coffee" means cocaine. The special forces soldiers refer to planting a bomb and detonating it as "The chicken is in the pot." — "Cook it." respectively. And so on by many characters. The President starts the whole mess with "The course of action I'd suggest is a course of action I can't suggest." This contrasts his Title Drop in the same scene, and his hypocrisy is called out later in the film. | |
Spy Speak / int_c56c235a | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_c56c235a | featureConfidence |
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Clear and Present Danger | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_c56c235a | |
Spy Speak / int_c70a1171 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_c70a1171 | comment |
Subverted in, of all places, the Conan the Barbarian novel "Hour of the Dragon". Conan attempts to sneak into a Stygian temple disguised as a pilgrim, but realizes that the pilgrims must give a secret hand signal to the temple guard to gain entrance. Upon realizing this, Conan, being Conan, just kills the guard and walks in anyway. | |
Spy Speak / int_c70a1171 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Spy Speak / int_c70a1171 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Conan the Barbarian (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_c70a1171 | |
Spy Speak / int_c72021c5 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_c72021c5 | comment |
Deus Ex In the original game, a random NPC in the Hell's Kitchen Clinic will ask JC "Who will help the widow's son?" and awkwardly excuse himself when JC doesn't understand. Though this is never stated in the game, the phrase is an old greeting and plea for assistance associated with the Freemasons. There is also the first contact with Harley Filben. Filben is a UNATCO agent on Liberty Island, to whom JC is supposed to identify himself with the phrase "Iron and copper". JC weaves the phrase into a seemingly innocuous question about the construction of the Statue of Liberty. Filben scoffs and says that just giving him the passphrase is enough. In one of the sidequests in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Jensen has to meet a contact to pick up an autopsy report. The contact, who is obviously a geek who is just doing things this way because he takes the whole thing too seriously, is supposed to be greeted by the code phrase "Life and death have their determined appointments." Jensen can play it professionally and use the phrase like he's supposed to. Alternately, (and hilariously) he can dismiss the whole thing saying "Something something, death and taxes. Confucius." Or he can just walk up to the contact and demand the information. |
|
Spy Speak / int_c72021c5 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_c72021c5 | featureConfidence |
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Deus Ex (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_c72021c5 | |
Spy Speak / int_c9b854c4 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_c9b854c4 | comment |
In a Nancy Drew book, the gang finds a way to make perfectly normal conversations actually be a warning—“You’re being watched�, etc. | |
Spy Speak / int_c9b854c4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_c9b854c4 | featureConfidence |
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Nancy Drew | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_c9b854c4 | |
Spy Speak / int_ca08598f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ca08598f | comment |
The Wire: The Major Crimes Unit does have to listen to many hours of wiretaps to try and get a making of what language the Barksdale uses as code for their drug-related deals. Unsurprisingly, it's hard to filter out pertinent from non-pertinent information. Played for Laughs early in season 3, when McNulty, Kima, and Lester find out about Drac, a nephew of Proposition Joe's and the talkingest motherfucker ever heard on a wiretap. As proof, Lester plays back a tape where Drac tries to speak in code but eventually loses patience and shouts, "Cocaine, nigga!" Also played for laughs when the police pick up Cheese having a conversation about a "dawg" he killed and felt regretful about killing. They have him brought in and interrogated. Bunk and McNulty are under the impression that Cheese is confessing to killing a person named "Dawg". It's not until Cheese tells them where the body is, "unless the SPCA comes around", that they realize he was just talking about putting his dog out of its misery in a dogfight. Exploited by Marlo, by letting the police hear him say he's "picking up the skinny girl from New York", which leads them to try catch him picking up a drug shipment, but he actually just goes to the train station and ofers to carry a random woman's bag to the parking lot. |
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Spy Speak / int_ca08598f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_ca08598f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Wire | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ca08598f | |
Spy Speak / int_ca4949d1 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ca4949d1 | comment |
Villains by Necessity: Arcie tries to do this at a bakery that fading thief's sign indicated was a local thieves guild front, only to find that thanks to all the whitewashing going on, it now really is just a bakery. So he buys some donuts and moves on. | |
Spy Speak / int_ca4949d1 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_ca4949d1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Villains by Necessity | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ca4949d1 | |
Spy Speak / int_ca5d97f1 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ca5d97f1 | comment |
Monty Python's Flying Circus In the "Secret Service Dentists" sketch in episode four, a customer innocently enters a bookshop, whose manager tries with weird excuses to get rid of him, until: Another Python sketch features a trio of KGB agents who get confused by their own code: |
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Spy Speak / int_ca5d97f1 | featureApplicability |
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Monty Python's Flying Circus | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ca5d97f1 | |
Spy Speak / int_cac20f89 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_cac20f89 | comment |
Explained in the JAG episode "Soul Searching" when a CIA agent that Admiral Chegwidden believes "saved his soul" in Vietnam is captured, and he and Webb go to rescue him. Chegwidden and the agent had worked out a code back then, with the key phrase being "It's a great day for baseball at Ebbets Field. I hear you used to umpire there." The agent would respond by identifying locations on a baseball field (first base, right field, the press box, etc.), with the agent being home plate, where enemy soldiers would be for Chegwidden to snipe. | |
Spy Speak / int_cac20f89 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_cac20f89 | featureConfidence |
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JAG | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_cac20f89 | |
Spy Speak / int_cae652c | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_cae652c | comment |
In Hunter × Hunter, a group of people from the Phantom Troupe, including their leader Chrollo, have abducted Gon and Killua. Their friends Kurapika and Leorio figure out which hotel the Troupe will go to and intercept them there. As a way of cluing Gon and Killua that they're there in the hotel's lobby and what they're about to do, Leorio proceeds to yell angrily at someone over the phone pretending he's a boss giving a perpetually late employee a final warning, peppering his speech with words and phrases like "black" and "8:00 sharp" to signal to them the power will go out at exactly 8:00. The sudden blackout stuns the Phantom Troupe members (and everyone else in the lobby) enough for Gon and Killua to escape and for Kurapika to capture Chrollo. | |
Spy Speak / int_cae652c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_cae652c | featureConfidence |
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Hunter × Hunter (Manga) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_cae652c | |
Spy Speak / int_cb6a6d5b | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_cb6a6d5b | comment |
The Avengers. When Mrs. Peel calls up Sir August from the phone booth on top of his island, she says "How Now Brown Cow" as a password to enter the base. She is apparently trying to pass as her Evil Twin clone (who was killed earlier trying to kidnap her). | |
Spy Speak / int_cb6a6d5b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_cb6a6d5b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Avengers (1998) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_cb6a6d5b | |
Spy Speak / int_cb77e84e | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_cb77e84e | comment |
In the first book of Detectives in Togas, the boy Rufus is in prison and about to be executed, but manages to send a strange message to the others: "Rip off the red wolf's sheep's clothing!" He's talking about the "seer" Lukos (Greek for "wolf"), whose name is written in red on his house, who's the Big Bad and framed Rufus. Lukos is really the bald ex-consul Tellus, who wears a wig when playing Lukos. | |
Spy Speak / int_cb77e84e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_cb77e84e | featureConfidence |
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Detectives in Togas | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_cb77e84e | |
Spy Speak / int_cbef68d4 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_cbef68d4 | comment |
In an episode of The News Quiz Sandi Toksvig revealed that she had been approached by MI5 at university (because she could fit in a suitcase). Bob Mills replied that it had always confused him when she said "And at the end of that round, the daffodils are blooming in Bucharest". | |
Spy Speak / int_cbef68d4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_cbef68d4 | featureConfidence |
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The News Quiz (Radio) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_cbef68d4 | |
Spy Speak / int_cbf8de79 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_cbf8de79 | comment |
Josie and the Pussycats. In the episode "Never Mind a Master Mind", Melody tries to trade in wooden blocks for purple wooden shoes at a shoe store. The shoe store is actually a front for a spy operation and the phrase Melody uses turns out to be a code phrase identifying the user as a secret agent. Melody is thus given the mission intended for the real agent. | |
Spy Speak / int_cbf8de79 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_cbf8de79 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Josie and the Pussycats | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_cbf8de79 | |
Spy Speak / int_cd921d71 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_cd921d71 | comment |
As Trigger Happy TV is a hidden camera show, they occasionally parody it further. For instance, if the spy discovers that the person he is talking to is not "Grey Squirrel" then he will get up and move on, followed by a man in a full body grey squirrel costume coming and sitting in his place a few moments later, much to the confusion of bystanders. | |
Spy Speak / int_cd921d71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_cd921d71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Trigger Happy TV | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_cd921d71 | |
Spy Speak / int_cebbba4f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_cebbba4f | comment |
The Dark Tower: The gang of Greys that kidnap Jake in The Waste Lands use a sign-countersign kind of password for entering their hideout. | |
Spy Speak / int_cebbba4f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_cebbba4f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Dark Tower | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_cebbba4f | |
Spy Speak / int_d0ce0dba | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_d0ce0dba | comment |
Parodied in The Man Who Knew Too Little, where it is a case of One Dialogue, Two Conversations. The British spymaster asks the protagonist whether the girl was "taken to the bathroom" and "flushed" (code for assassination and disposal of the body), while the protagonist (who doesn't know that he has been mistaken for a spy) fails to recognize this as code. He informs the spymaster that "She went to the loo... by herself", which the spymaster erroneously interprets as meaning "suicide". | |
Spy Speak / int_d0ce0dba | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_d0ce0dba | featureConfidence |
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The Man Who Knew Too Little | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_d0ce0dba | |
Spy Speak / int_d2bae484 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_d2bae484 | comment |
On The Amazing Race, one challenge taking place in Washington, D.C. had the racers exchanging a briefcase with a spy after exchanging code phrases. Apparently, the producers liked it because they did it again in a later season. | |
Spy Speak / int_d2bae484 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_d2bae484 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Amazing Race | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_d2bae484 | |
Spy Speak / int_d3381e70 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_d3381e70 | comment |
Attempted during the first act of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where after Nick Fury sneaks into Steve's apartment, he tries to lead in a conversation by saying his (nonexistent) wife kicked him out and he "needed a place to crash". After Nick silently relays through text on his phone that people are secretly listening to them as S.H.I.E.L.D. has been compromised, the two attempt to exchange further information disguised as a mundane conversation. Then Fury is abruptly blasted down by a sniper. | |
Spy Speak / int_d3381e70 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_d3381e70 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Captain America: The Winter Soldier | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_d3381e70 | |
Spy Speak / int_d46cc708 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_d46cc708 | comment |
Parodied in the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "In Like Ed": | |
Spy Speak / int_d46cc708 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_d46cc708 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ed, Edd n Eddy | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_d46cc708 | |
Spy Speak / int_d54a63c9 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_d54a63c9 | comment |
In The Longest Day, the Free French use the phrase "Jean has a long moustache" as the signal for "The invasion will come tomorrow, the Resistance shall begin with the preparations" (probably Truth in Television). Cue the mayor of Colleville (Bourvil) dancing around the radio and shouting "Jean has a long moustache... Jean has a long moustache!", before running outside to blow up some telephone lines. In fact, those radio transmissions were full of dozens of messages like that every night. Some of them were communiques to various resistance cells, and others were sheer gibberish sent over the airwaves to drive any Germans listening on that frequency nuts. | |
Spy Speak / int_d54a63c9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_d54a63c9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Longest Day | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_d54a63c9 | |
Spy Speak / int_d641da75 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_d641da75 | comment |
In The Adventures of Tartu, Terence has to recite what's basically a line of poetry and hope the person says the right line that comes after. They continue this back and forth until it's completed. | |
Spy Speak / int_d641da75 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_d641da75 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Adventures of Tartu | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_d641da75 | |
Spy Speak / int_d645c08f | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_d645c08f | comment |
In A Song Is Born, Hobart Frisbee uses his newfound grasp of hep cat language to communicate his escape plan to the musicians near the end. | |
Spy Speak / int_d645c08f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_d645c08f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
A Song Is Born | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_d645c08f | |
Spy Speak / int_d8520b74 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_d8520b74 | comment |
In the Sam & Max Save the World episode "The Mole, The Mob, and the Meatball", they are told to say the phrase "Does the carpet match the drapes" to another agent. The response the other agent is supposed to give: "Why I never...!" and slap them on the cheek. | |
Spy Speak / int_d8520b74 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_d8520b74 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Sam & Max: Freelance Police (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_d8520b74 | |
Spy Speak / int_dbdd3424 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_dbdd3424 | comment |
Phantom Doctrine: Your String Theory board has you trying to figure out what the Spy Speak means by linking the various code phrases to each other. You start with a particular document that has one or two code phrases, and then use various bits of seemingly innocuous (and always unrelated) data to link the initial code phrase to a person, place or organization. This is occasionally required to advance the story, and optionally used to unlock new agents for hire, new weapons dealer contacts to purchase items, new chemicals for body enhancement, and rarely to expose an enemy agent. | |
Spy Speak / int_dbdd3424 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_dbdd3424 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Phantom Doctrine (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_dbdd3424 | |
Spy Speak / int_ddb7ff4e | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ddb7ff4e | comment |
The Eisenhorn novels feature an extensive code language called Glossia used by Inquisitor Eisenhorn and his Acolytes, which is completely internally consistent and can be understood by the readers if they're paying attention. A simple example is "Thorn wishes Talon", which means that Thorn (Eisenhorn) is requesting a face-to-face meeting with Ravenor (Talon). | |
Spy Speak / int_ddb7ff4e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_ddb7ff4e | featureConfidence |
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Eisenhorn | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ddb7ff4e | |
Spy Speak / int_ded9acbd | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ded9acbd | comment |
Averted in No Time to Die when Bond makes contact with Palmona, who just tells him he's late and hauls Bond into a wine cellar so he can change into his tuxedo. Bond then points out they're supposed to discuss "Something about a hat, Paris?" | |
Spy Speak / int_ded9acbd | featureApplicability |
-1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_ded9acbd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
No Time to Die | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ded9acbd | |
Spy Speak / int_df0aa697 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_df0aa697 | comment |
Almost every dialogue in The Limits of Control is made about this trope. | |
Spy Speak / int_df0aa697 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_df0aa697 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Limits of Control | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_df0aa697 | |
Spy Speak / int_e004c285 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e004c285 | comment |
In Toliver's Secret, Ellen's grandfather instructs her to deliver the message to his friend, Mr. Shannon, by stating that she has a present for his birthday. She uses this as a cover story for why she's carrying around a loaf of bread, telling the British soldiers she travels with that it's a birthday gift for an old man. | |
Spy Speak / int_e004c285 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e004c285 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Toliver's Secret | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e004c285 | |
Spy Speak / int_e0a7cf9d | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e0a7cf9d | comment |
Indie video game SpyParty has one of the possible missions as this; the Spy must signal the Double Agent with a Key Word type of spy-speak. They can also fake signals in a conversation to throw off the Sniper, who can listen to conversations to try and determine if the spy is signaling anyone. The problem is that the signal is always "banana bread," which sticks out in the otherwise humdrum background party conversation like a sore thumb. This has led many players to refer to any attempt (real or faked) to signal a Double Agent as "banana breading." | |
Spy Speak / int_e0a7cf9d | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_e0a7cf9d | featureConfidence |
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SpyParty (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e0a7cf9d | |
Spy Speak / int_e144ba19 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e144ba19 | comment |
In Dragon Age II, Snarky!Hawke has some fun with this: | |
Spy Speak / int_e144ba19 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e144ba19 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dragon Age II (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e144ba19 | |
Spy Speak / int_e179ec3a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e179ec3a | comment |
Calvin and Hobbes do this while initiating Operation Spy on the Slimy Girl in Calvin & Hobbes: The Series | |
Spy Speak / int_e179ec3a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e179ec3a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Calvin & Hobbes: The Series (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e179ec3a | |
Spy Speak / int_e293455a | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e293455a | comment |
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Xander sends Willow a text message in code that either means he's about to score or he's being attacked by a demon; with Xander's luck, they realize it has to be the latter. Agents of the covert military demon-fighting unit The Initiative speak this way, causing the Scoobies to dub it "Riley Speak" (after Buffy's Initiative boyfriend Riley Finn) whenever they use such codes themselves as opposed to their usual Buffy Speak. |
|
Spy Speak / int_e293455a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e293455a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Buffy the Vampire Slayer | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e293455a | |
Spy Speak / int_e34aee2d | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e34aee2d | comment |
Atlas Strongest Tournament: The trope is lampshaded during a conversation between Princess Luna and her spy among the changelings who may or may not have been replaced by an actual changeling. | |
Spy Speak / int_e34aee2d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e34aee2d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ponies Of Olympus / Fan Fic | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e34aee2d | |
Spy Speak / int_e4b92885 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e4b92885 | comment |
Bells Are Ringing: It has an example involving mobsters using an unwitting third party. A group of bookies is trying to secretly place bets on horse races over the phone. How do they do this? They set up a fake classical music company, Titanic Records, which sells recordings of various symphonies and takes phone orders through an answering service, Susanswerphone. The employees of the answering service don't know it, but the phone orders are code for the bets being placed. For example, as laid out in the song "It's a Simple Little System" by the "president" of Titanic Records, Sandor, the names of composers correspond to various major racetracks: This gets them into trouble when, just before a major race, many "customers" place "orders" for "recordings" of "Beethoven's Tenth Symphony" — when Beethoven, famously, only wrote nine symphonies. The well-meaning employees of Susanswerphone, who are not in on the scam, helpfully change all the previous orders to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which causes quite a problem for Titanic Records... |
|
Spy Speak / int_e4b92885 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e4b92885 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Bells Are Ringing (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e4b92885 | |
Spy Speak / int_e4c53c04 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e4c53c04 | comment |
Jumpin' Jack Flash "Dogs barking. Can't fly without umbrella." | |
Spy Speak / int_e4c53c04 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e4c53c04 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Jumpin' Jack Flash | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e4c53c04 | |
Spy Speak / int_e61d84b0 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e61d84b0 | comment |
Star Shift Origins: When the Dauntless crew is placed under Novus Federation command, Captain Carol Everson and Lieutenant Magnus Archer designate a code word, "Groundhog," to indicate when they are in an emergency situation that can compromise their chain of command. During the Raxion II mission, Carol uses it to indicate that Archer should prioritize her orders over Novus and escape with the Raven. | |
Spy Speak / int_e61d84b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e61d84b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Star Shift Origins (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e61d84b0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e6b8dcc3 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e6b8dcc3 | comment |
Ronin (1998) is full of this (no surprise that David Mamet co-wrote the screenplay), as per the opening exchange between Vincent and Sam: | |
Spy Speak / int_e6b8dcc3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e6b8dcc3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Ronin (1998) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e6b8dcc3 | |
Spy Speak / int_e90cee59 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e90cee59 | comment |
In The Sandbaggers, whenever anyone is reporting in from the field, the conversations are always heavily couched in metaphor. On the other hand, the speech avoids the sign/countersign form, and the "disguise" is a light one — usually something along the lines of a manager speaking to his salesmen in the field. Apart from the true nature of their "business," the roles are in fact strongly analogous. In episode "A Feasible Solution", senior agent Willie is sent to Cyprus with novice Jill. They run into a spot of trouble, and afterward Willie tells Neil, his boss, "I wanted to let you know how pleased I am with my new girlfriend. We had a heavy session today, and she knew exactly what to do at every step. She's no virgin!" — from which Neil infers that "Jill" is a KGB plant. In "A Question of Loyalty", Mike's confidence is shaken by a failed mission, and while on his next mission he suggests that Neil send "my older brother". Neil says no, but "don't be surprised to see your pretty cousin from Grosvenor Square," i.e. Karen of the CIA, whose office is in the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London.note Mentioning Grosvenor Square by name was unnecessary and perhaps indiscreet; "cousins" consistently means Americans. |
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Spy Speak / int_e90cee59 | featureApplicability |
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Spy Speak / int_e90cee59 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Sandbaggers | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e90cee59 | |
Spy Speak / int_e951212 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_e951212 | comment |
Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues: The school principal and Benedict both use the term 'study group' to refer to the students that have superpowers. Played for Laughs when Ivy and Luna realise that their teacher has been replaced by a government agent. They try to leave the classroom, and she advises them to return quickly. They both freak out over the idea that she's speaking code words and delivering a hidden threat to them. Ivy tries to rebuke her, but can't actually figure out a metaphor to respond with. |
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Spy Speak / int_e951212 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_e951212 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues / Role Play | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_e951212 | |
Spy Speak / int_ea15127e | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ea15127e | comment |
In Léon a.k.a. The Professional, he calls himself a "Cleaner", instead of "Assassin" or "Hitman". So someone might ask him to "clean" someone, rather than "kill" them. That's actually a Shout-Out to Nikita, where Jean Reno played the "cleaner" i.e. a character who specialized in destroying the evidence and disposing of bodies after the hit. | |
Spy Speak / int_ea15127e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_ea15127e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Professional | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ea15127e | |
Spy Speak / int_ea4f62db | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_ea4f62db | comment |
Family Guy, when Peter goes to a pet shop being used as a front by the mob, that they know is bugged by the feds. | |
Spy Speak / int_ea4f62db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_ea4f62db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Family Guy | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_ea4f62db | |
Spy Speak / int_eb6719f6 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_eb6719f6 | comment |
Final Fantasy VIII: Player has to pick the correct response. You can screw it up by saying "Moogles" or "Chocobos" instead of owls, but he recognizes you anyway... and your SeeD rank drops. | |
Spy Speak / int_eb6719f6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_eb6719f6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_eb6719f6 | |
Spy Speak / int_f0a86c12 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_f0a86c12 | comment |
In How I Met Your Mother, Ted uses this to discreetly refer to an art-school tryout that Lily doesn't want Marshall to know about (because attending the school would conflict with their wedding). | |
Spy Speak / int_f0a86c12 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_f0a86c12 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
How I Met Your Mother | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_f0a86c12 | |
Spy Speak / int_f0c816fb | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_f0c816fb | comment |
Breaking Bad: Ed the Disappearer, who helps criminals make a new untraceable identity somewhere else in the country, works as a vacuum cleaner repairman as his cover, and only reveals his other service to those who know the code phrase: requesting a "new dust filter for my Hoover Max Extract Pressure Pro model 60" (the trick being that the Hoover Max Extract Pressure Pro doesn't have a dust filter, so it would be very unlikely for a layman to actually request it). At one point, Jesse struggles to remember the exact passcode but Ed, eventually, cuts him a break since he at least knew most of it and already requested a meet-up months prior. | |
Spy Speak / int_f0c816fb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_f0c816fb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Breaking Bad | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_f0c816fb | |
Spy Speak / int_f4e799ee | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_f4e799ee | comment |
Burn Notice Lampshaded when Michael has to leave a message for the man he was supposed to meet but is called away. He mentions that spy speak is only successful when the other party can figure out what the message means, otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time. Fortunately, the other man does figure out that "John 3:14" written on the sidewalk in chalk means "St. John's Cathedral at 3:14pm." Lampshaded a second time when Michael realizes his phone is bugged. He ties up the surveillance team by calling random phone numbers and saying nonsensical things to whoever picks up, counting on the fact that the surveillance team will assume that he's relaying information in code and will waste hours of time trying to figure out what he's relaying. Another episode has Michael getting information from his team, which is disguised as a random conversation. Maddie rebuffs Jesse's offer to explain and translate the code herself: Maddie also had a code for Michael and his brother, which told them that their father was in a drunken rage again. |
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Spy Speak / int_f4e799ee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_f4e799ee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Burn Notice | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_f4e799ee | |
Spy Speak / int_f53fe2fa | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_f53fe2fa | comment |
Many Mission: Impossible episodes began with one of these. Jim Phelps would go somewhere and have an innocuous conversation. When he would insist on a detail, they took him to the self-destructing tape. | |
Spy Speak / int_f53fe2fa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_f53fe2fa | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Mission: Impossible | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_f53fe2fa | |
Spy Speak / int_f5c28dbb | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_f5c28dbb | comment |
1632: Harry Lefferts sets up a type 3 scenario with a contact in Italy with the sign "I am Romulus." and the countersign "I am Vulcan. Live long and prosper." Several people give him guff for his blatant fanboyism, until he points out that anyone in the 17th century who hasn't been told the countersign will, by virtue of knowing a lot about Roman myth and nothing about Star Trek, assume that Romulus is meeting Remus. Of course, Lefferts is also a thoroughbred West Virginia hillbilly, and while he has gotten some lessons from real pros, most of his ideas about spycraft come from films. | |
Spy Speak / int_f5c28dbb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_f5c28dbb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
1632 | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_f5c28dbb | |
Spy Speak / int_f5d65775 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_f5d65775 | comment |
In Nick Fury, the TV movie: | |
Spy Speak / int_f5d65775 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_f5d65775 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Nick Fury (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_f5d65775 | |
Spy Speak / int_f6eed39 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_f6eed39 | comment |
Mob-specific Spy Speak is a fixture on The Sopranos. For instance, "we're bringing in some tailors from Sicily to do the job, why don't you see about getting them some scissors." Also lampshaded, subverted, and parodied to hell and back at various points. |
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Spy Speak / int_f6eed39 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
Spy Speak / int_f6eed39 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
The Sopranos | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_f6eed39 | |
Spy Speak / int_f74b5f80 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_f74b5f80 | comment |
Babylon 5: At one point, Garibaldi is given a task not revealed to the audience (specifically, to have a pair of high-yield nukes fitted to the White Star to be used as a suicide weapon). The signal that he was done was to go to Sheridan and have a conversation about the weather. In the fourth season, one of the characters has snuck to Mars to meet up with La Résistance, and sends back a status report entirely in code phrases. Lampshaded by the leader of La Résistance who calls it "Nice and cryptic." |
|
Spy Speak / int_f74b5f80 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_f74b5f80 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Babylon 5 | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_f74b5f80 | |
Spy Speak / int_fcf34eec | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_fcf34eec | comment |
Full Metal Panic!! The Second Raid. During briefing, one soldier mentions the "Cretan paradox" when a Cretan (someone from the island of Crete) says that all Cretans are liars. When Mithril realizes during a mission that they got an information leak, Kalinin invokes this conversation, secretly telling the team that they are about to confuse the enemy by him giving orders and the team doing the exact opposite. It works. | |
Spy Speak / int_fcf34eec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_fcf34eec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
Full Metal Panic! | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_fcf34eec | |
Spy Speak / int_fd177b01 | type |
Spy Speak | |
Spy Speak / int_fd177b01 | comment |
J-Men Forever. The J-Men are convinced the rock 'n' roll being broadcasted by the evil Lightning Bug is some kind of spy code and assign their crafty cryptographers to breaking it. | |
Spy Speak / int_fd177b01 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
Spy Speak / int_fd177b01 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
J-Men Forever | hasFeature |
Spy Speak / int_fd177b01 |
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