Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Ultimate Unbreakable Code?

Throughout history, codes have played a major role in communication between two or more parties that wish for their dialogue to remain strictly among themselves. From made up languages to mono- and poly-alphabetic ciphers, there have been many attempts to create a code that proves unable to be broken. Still today, codes appear in many places among literature, pop culture, and society in general. As it was in the past, there are cryptanalysts who make a living off deciphering messages that fall into their hands, and more often than not they are able to decode the text and reveal the secrets within. But is there actually a code that is unable to be cracked by certain cryptanalysts? I didn't believe so at first, but now it seems my opinion has changed.

Although they may not appear in the form of a cipher or encoded message, codes are present in many contexts we may not immediately recognize. Knowing this, I spent the past few days observing fellow classmates who seemed to understand and also speak a language that I myself take part in daily. This code is easily deciphered among some, but absolutely impossible among others. Though it is not a type of code we have discussed in class, this code is used around the world and is almost immediately recognizable to about half the population. This code is commonly referred to as none other than... girl code.

Girl code is a dialogue extremely well known among the female population, and, unfortunately for most women, much less understood by our male counterparts. Just one glance, a toss of the hair, or a barely audible sigh can speak volumes to those who are also familiar with the ever-affluent girl code.

For example, say you're in the caf getting lunch with some friends. You see a girl who previously upset you, but you exchange a tight-lipped smile in passing anyway. Girl to girl, you both understand that each is unhappy with the other, but it is not the time or place for a confrontation. However, if you're unhappy with a guy and the same sequence of events occurs, he would most likely assume all is forgiven and probably forget the entire incident in a matter of 10 minutes.

Little occurrences such as these as well as larger-scale "girl ciphers" lead me to believe that, in general, girl code is indecipherable amongst the male population. Though it is not true for all men, many find themselves in a bit of a pickle when trying to interpret signals from women in a multitude of situations. On a wide spectrum, girl code has only been broken by fellow girls, and it is up to men to become cryptanalysts of this foreign language. Whether or not men eventually breaking this code is a good thing is up to the women to decide... but we can cross that bridge when we come to it. Which, based on historical evidence, may take hundreds to thousands of years. So, ladies, have we created the ultimate unbreakable code?

4 comments:

  1. This is a very modern take on codes. I totally get it and it was ingenious to put this in your blog. Most girls don't even realize that it is a code unable to be ciphered by men because it is usually communicated girl-to-girl. However, we do still use it when we want to drop a hint and guys just out right don't get it. So far I'm with you it will probably be a long time before guys break it.

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  2. The girl codes are difficult to figure out because the third party doesn't really understand the history that the other two people shared. Then again, guys have their own kind of code where when one guy would communicate in one way or another to another guy something knowledge that they both understand. This method is more of a secret code of individual groups of friends. When some friends have really close relationships they can use this and communicate with each other. Nonetheless, a secure way of communicating private matters without anyone else knowing.

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  3. If only there was an Alberti Cypher ring for "girl code"... that would be helpful to guys everywhere.

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