# Define "Kipion"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-kipion/832491>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 13, 2019, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-kipion/832491 "2019-04-13T09:46:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-kipion/832491/21 "2019-04-15T17:28:49Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> If there is, it’s not Spanish or French, even though that’s where a lot of the other keyring reference sites are. “K” isn’t really part of either languages’ alphabets except for loanwords. It’s obviously not an English word.
> 
> Also doesn’t register as other Germanic. Maybe Greek or Hebrew? Further afield?

It maybe Greek. From this [cite](http://epontos.blogspot.com/2011/07/pontic-dialect.html); kipion = small garden

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**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-kipion/832491/22 "2019-04-15T18:24:42Z")

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> [@DPRK](#):
>
> Interestingly enough, if operation code names are randomly generated then there _should_ be a (purely theoretical) chance that the word _does_ coincidentally relate to the action. Otherwise information is inadvertently revealed; for example, anyone would know that “Operation Freezer” absolutely has nothing to do with the alarming mobilization near the North Pole.
> 
> The German ENIGMA cypher suffered from this flaw (a letter would never be encoded as itself) among others which indeed helped the Allies crack it like an egg.

There’s an even better example from ENIGMA (since the lack of letter-to-itself coding is inherent in the basic design, and would require a whole different kind of machine to avoid). Simplifying, the ENIGMA had three different coding wheels, which could be swapped around in any order, making different code keys. For some parts of the German military, the SOP was to change them around each day, but forbid keeping the same wheel in the same place for consecutive days. That effort to try and throw off codebreakers actually helped them, but allowing the codebreakers to eliminate many of the possible wheel configurations.

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