Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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braillespeak

the conversation that's never overheard
 
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A form of communication based on tactile patterns, ideally variations of finger pressure leaving little sign of hand/arm motion, for the purpose of covertly conveying information. The difficulty of transmission would probably require a suspiciously long period of contact for the transmission of all but the simplest messages. Still, the content of the message would be concealed.
djymm, Mar 31 2001

Deafblind Manual Alphabet http://www.deafblind.com/card.html
Or just learn this, and if you run into someone cute with a red-and-white cane, you can at least say <rub open hand with flat palm, touch middle finger>. [jutta, Mar 31 2001]

wireless touch communication http://fox.nstn.ca/...actile.html#ts_comm
This company has built a "tactile stimulation chair". On this page, they're just throwing around ideas about what to do with their patent; one of the ideas is a hand-sized touch pad connected to another by wireless, allowing for "silent communication" like what djymm's interested in. [jutta, Mar 31 2001]

[link]






       Obviously, speaking in a foreign language would still reveal that there is communication taking place; not good enough for cheating at poker.   

       (And note that, statistically, switching to Mandarin is not be a good strategy for concealment either; more than twice as many people speak Mandarin as speak English.)
jutta, Mar 31 2001
  

       Oh! In that case, bring 'em on; Lamarr the merrier.
jutta, Apr 01 2001
  

       Hmmmm...   

       I was thinking this was an idea for a new way for Winston to communicate freely and openly in 1984.
Wes, Apr 01 2001
  

       I got your original meaning, UnaBubba. The line of demarcation lies in not needing to choose a language of exclusion depending on context from your set of languages shared with the intended, um, talk-at-person. *sigh* Discretion is bundled into the language, rather than depending on gaps in the linguistic knowledge of passers-by.   

       Don't know it this makes the idea any more appealing or not.
djymm, Apr 01 2001
  

       If two hands (or one hand and two fingers) were used you could use the binary ASCII codes for charachters.
badoingdoing, Apr 01 2001
  

       From Thomas Edison's diary, as quoted in "The Victorian Internet" by Tom Standage:   

       "My later courship was carried on by telegraph. I taught the lady of my heart the Morse code, and when she could both send and receive we got along much better than we could have with spoken words by tapping out our remarks to one another on our hands. Presently I asked her thus, in Morse code, if she would marry me. The word 'Yes' is an easy one to send by teleggraphic signals, and she sent it. If she had been obliged to speak it, she might have found it harder."
jutta, Apr 02 2001
  

       Ravenswood: I thought Braille was an arrangement of dots, each being a representation of a letter or number? Why would it be meaningless?
StarChaser, Apr 02 2001
  

       Much as I hate mobile phones, I think that just sending each other a text message would fit the bill nicely here.
DrBob, Apr 02 2001
  

       I'm pretty sure there has been a traders' argot composed of hand-preesure symbols, meant to be done under long sleeves so that transactions could be agreed on privately anywhere.   

       Can't find an online reference, though.
hello_c, Apr 04 2001
  

       Ravenswood: You're right, that would be confusing...
StarChaser, Apr 04 2001
  

       Baked i think for people who are deaf and blind. Works by touching the palm of a persons hand in similar way to signlanguage.
lau03205, Nov 22 2004
  
      
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