[benpbenp]

In middle school one day there was a loudspeaker announcement that all teachers were to stay after school for "the special meeting, I repeat, the special meeting." It was so obvious to everyone that this was a coded message and we got it out of the Spanish teacher pretty quickly that this meant there had been a bomb threat.

[jsdalton]

Horribly written article, but very interesting topic.

[MatthewBloch]

They missed the only one I know in the UK - "Inspector Sands" I'm sure used to be associated with bomb / terror threats but wikipedia says it's just a general euphemism for something in a train/tube station that needs immediate attention from staff.

[mootothemax → MatthewBloch]

It was only after someone told me about "Inspector Sands" that I noticed how often it's used. Based on my anecdotal evidence, it totally makes sense to use all these codewords, otherwise half the stations in London would be closed on a daily basis :)

[taylorwc]

Isn't an ID10t error an old joke and not really a secret code? meh.

[pavel_lishin → taylorwc]

Yeah, combine that with the fact that most of these vary according to region, and you'll find out that most of these are useless.

I guess I'll have to go set a fire at a hospital and see if they call "Dr. Firestone", or, you know, pull the fire alarm.

[CWuestefeld → pavel_lishin]

One data point:

The hospital (in New Jersey) where my wife works uses the "Dr. Firestone" thing. A "Dr. Clearwater" cancels the alert.