# Cryptology and this picture **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2007, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592 "2007-12-11T05:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Klepto21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/65b543/32.png) [@Klepto21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klepto21)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/1 "2007-12-11T05:05:36Z")
My friend sent me [this message](http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k144/Matt_t_2006/message1.jpg) and is offering $10 if I can solve it. I’ve never done this sort of thing before. What I have done so far is look up word frequency, note doubles in the message, and frequency in the message, but I can’t seem to get anywhere. Help? Maybe this will be fun for someone. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/2 "2007-12-11T05:12:58Z")
My first thought was, it looks upside down whatever it is. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/3 "2007-12-11T06:39:29Z")
[QUOTE=Klepto21] My friend sent me [this message](http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k144/Matt_t_2006/message1.jpg) and is offering $10 if I can solve it. I’ve never done this sort of thing before. What I have done so far is look up word frequency, note doubles in the message, and frequency in the message, but I can’t seem to get anywhere. Help? Maybe this will be fun for someone. [/QUOTE] It’s too late for me to tinker right now. Might be a case of steganography, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/4 "2007-12-11T09:20:36Z")
It’s a jpeg image, so whatever is the meaning cannot be hidden in the very fine detail, or the exact relationship of colours, as there’s no guarantee of preservation of these. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/5 "2007-12-11T10:39:49Z")
No idea. It would be easier if your friend would tell you where each character began and ended; a lot of them it’s hard to tell whether any certain group of strokes is one or two characters. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/6 "2007-12-11T13:10:56Z")
It means 14 k of g in a f p d. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/7 "2007-12-11T13:59:21Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] It means 14 k of g in a f p d. [/QUOTE] An actual “LOL”! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/8 "2007-12-11T14:51:35Z")
Don’t have time to play with it right now. Maybe fold it in some way so that when viewed against a lightsource letters become clear? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/9 "2007-12-11T14:58:26Z")
I like that idea. Doesn’t seem to work, but it’s a good idea. I think it might just be a letter substitution thing, but there’s the puzzle of what, if anything other than chaff, is the purpose of the background colour splodges. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/10 "2007-12-11T17:45:23Z")
My first thought was that the first word on the left, since it’s followed by a comma, is your name, either three or four letters. But since no one here knows your name, we can’t really follow up on that… ETA: or possibly the word on the far right is your name, and the message is backwards. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/11 "2007-12-11T17:48:06Z")
I read the title as “Crypotzoology” and opened the link expecting a pic of Bigfoot… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/12 "2007-12-11T17:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] My first thought was, it looks upside down whatever it is. [/QUOTE] I agree. I opened in up in Photoshop and rotated it 180 degrees and the strokes look much more natural. I’d start with the assumption that it’s been flipped. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/13 "2007-12-11T18:07:17Z")
[QUOTE=ZenBeam] My first thought was that the first word on the left, since it’s followed by a comma, is your name, either three or four letters. But since no one here knows your name, we can’t really follow up on that… ETA: or possibly the word on the far right is your name, and the message is backwards. [/QUOTE] I agree with the first word being a four letter name with double letters in the middle. If your name is Anne, for example. It looks like a replacement code. There are 12 distinct characters with / being the most prevalent with 4. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/14 "2007-12-11T19:23:47Z")
I have tried flipping it every which way, but it doesn’t look like anything. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/15 "2007-12-11T20:05:28Z")
Looking at the requency it looks like a substitution code, most likely a font type: Backwards “C” with the dot: 4 occurrences “/”: 4 occurrences Sideways “T”: 2 occurrences Sideways “Y”: 2 occurrences “S”: 2 occurrences All other symbols occur once, including the “,” which might just be a comma. So overall 13 unique characters occurring 22 times. ---
**Author:** ![aptronym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@aptronym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aptronym)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/16 "2007-12-11T20:14:23Z")
This might seem like a strange thing to notice, but every character has either a plane of symmetry or an axis of symmetry. I doubt it’s a simple cipher. I think the best way to solve this problem is to repost it on another forum and offer $5 to anyone who can solve it. For all we know, the OP was offered $20 to solve it himself. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/17 "2007-12-11T20:46:11Z")
[QUOTE=aptronym] This might seem like a strange thing to notice, but every character has either a plane of symmetry or an axis of symmetry. [/QUOTE] I noticed that as well, though not necessarily exactly symmetrical. Let me stare at it a while… ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/18 "2007-12-11T21:02:41Z")
Do you and your friend both speak only English, or could we be looking for something in another language? ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/19 "2007-12-11T21:17:53Z")
Is the second character a single “II” or two “I”? Hmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592/20 "2007-12-11T21:26:36Z")
The steganography program I just got off [download.com](http://download.com) doesn’t think there’s any data hiding in it… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cryptology-and-this-picture/429592.md?page=2)