Sometimes, I think I might be a little obsessed with words. Yesterday, right here on this blog, I wrote about words that I liked and disliked, mostly.
And today, I am back at it. Talking about words again. But this time, they are words of a very different sort.
These are “Secret Code Words” that you and I are not meant to know.
These combinations of letters and numbers are intended to sound random to our little listening ears. But the truth of the matter is, in certain situations, they can be signs of a serious emergency.
When I was a kid, CB radio lingo was a big deal. We’d go around saying the phrase, “10-4, good buddy.” We’d pretend we had CB radios of our own, talking about “smokies” and asking our friends, “What’s your 20?” But that 10-4. Of course, that is really the police code, which means “affirmative” or an acknowledgment of a message.
But if you hear a police officer say 10-33, there’s a police emergency underway somewhere. I can’t recall ever hearing that one, but I’m sure it happens all the time.
Some secret phrases wear many hats. Take “Code 10,” for example.
Hospitals can use it to signal a serious threat or mass casualties.
However, if a store cashier issues a Code 10 authorization request while you’re checking out, it means that he’s suspicious of you or your card. Next, he will call your credit card company and answer a series of yes/no questions to evaluate the situation. Sometimes that cashier will call the authorities. To which they might say, 10-33. (Joking.)
Anyway, if you are in a Walmart? Code 10 just means there’s a dry spill. Like Quaker Oats, I suppose. “Irv. Cleanup. Aisle five.”
Here’s another. It is a “Code Adam.” This is an alert for a missing child that’s used in many public locations like malls, hospitals, supermarkets, and such. Back to good old Walmart. They were the ones who coined the term in 1994 in memory of Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old who was abducted from a Sears and was found murdered. In 2003, Congress mandated that all federal buildings use Code Adam procedures. I’ve never heard that one either, thankfully. Although, I do get a fair share of “Amber Alerts” that screech out on my iPhone.
Now, sometimes these stores try to get clever. If you hear a “Time Check” announced over a loudspeaker in a store (it may sound like, “Time check, the time is 1:30″), there’s a bomb threat. Now that you know this code phrase, you should leave the store immediately. And truthfully, I’m not sure why they just wouldn’t come over the loudspeaker and tell everyone to get the heckins out of there. But if the store says “time check,” the employees must reportedly try to locate the bomb. I hope they get paid extra money for that, because if I’m wearing the Walmart blue vest? They don’t pay me enough to be a member of their mini-bomb squad.
Hospitals have all sorts of codes. Like, a whole little book of them.
Code Silver? That is the code for a person in the hospital building with a weapon, a hostage situation, or another violent situation that requires a lockdown.
Doctor Firestone? Well. It is not a real doctor. This code lets hospital staff know there’s a fire in the building.
We know Code Blue. But Code Gray means there is an aggressive or combative patient.
Planes, trains, and boats have lots of codes too.
Hearing “Operation Rising Star” while you’re flying means someone died on the plane.
And one you never want to hear in the air is “7500.”
This indicates that the plane has been taken over by hijackers.
Finally, I have to end with “Echo, Echo, Echo.”
This code means two ships are about to collide. Now, I’m guessing, if I am on board a ship, and we hit another ship? I’m probably going to notice without the code phrase.
Unless it is a huge cruise ship, and it just pulverized some rowboat. In that case, I’m guessing the only people to notice would be the inhabitants of the rowboat. Or should I say “former” inhabitants?
All of this reminds me of a couple of things. No matter where we go or what we do, there are both good and bad things happening in the world around us. If we are lucky, we can avoid the bad things, whether we are aware of them or not.
But the second thing? I am reminded of all the good people in the world, who work to make a bad situation better, whether they be first responders, nurses in a hospital, clerks at a store, or a passerby on the street. Yes. Those good people in the world.
Today, I am thankful for all of those good, kind people.
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“A good deed is the best prayer.”
— Robert Green Ingersoll
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“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
— Aesop
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“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.”
— Scott Adams
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Those secret code words you wished you knew. What?
