# Do You Really Think There's a Secret Code That Will Unlock Everything? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 5, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142 "2002-09-05T15:53:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/41 "2002-09-06T10:15:47Z")
Prisoners are good ones for this kind of thinking. Time and again they will tell me that some esoteric meaning on a play of words means that certain evidence should not have been allowed, things like the spelling of a word, or perhaps that a differant law applied on a third tuesday after the full moon, or something stupid like that. I then ask,“Well, despite the obvious flaw in the prosecution case, did you do it ?” The answer is invariably “Yes” ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/42 "2002-09-06T11:21:21Z")
Hmm. (I’m the one who started the OP in question) Here in the U.S., we have the ninth amendment. It means that anything not specifically covered by laws is presumed to be legal. So, if I find out a way to do something that closely resembles an illegal action in result, but dodges the letter of the law, I’ve found a code. Of course, I’d then probably be convicted on principle, but, the legality of the action itself is what I’m after. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/43 "2002-09-06T12:14:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > \*\*People, people, people… **Bricker** is a _lawyer_! It’s the lawyers who **know all the cheat codes**! Of _course_ the lawyers are going to tell you that “there are no cheat codes”–if _everyone_ knew how to use them, they wouldn’t be worth anything! \*\* Shhhh! You are giving away our cheat code! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/44 "2002-09-06T14:24:56Z")
I would like to compliment **Jodi** on a well-written and very insightful post, containing many things I would have liked to be smart enough to say, and articulate enough to say as well as she did. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/45 "2002-09-06T16:19:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robertliguori \* > \*\*Hmm. (I’m the one who started the OP in question) Here in the U.S., we have the ninth amendment. It means that anything not specifically covered by laws is presumed to be legal. \*\* Well, but that’s not what the 9th amendment means. While “everything not forbidden is permitted” is a legal principle consistant with the idea of limited government, it’s not the 9th amendment. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/46 "2002-09-06T17:27:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Some Guy \* > The "Magic Word, on the other hand is “xyzzy”. And every time you say it, does the duck come down and give you $100? 😉 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Feynn \* > Actually… the third word that ends in “gry” is the magical code that unlocks everything. > > I thought everyone knew this. > > Problem is, no-one knows what the damn word is. [We do now.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131793&highlight=Seligry) ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/47 "2002-09-06T18:21:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Here in the U.S., we have the ninth amendment. It means that anything not specifically covered by laws is presumed to be legal. No, it doesn’t. It means the rights set forth in the Constitution are not an exhaustive list, and we all have other inherent rights not therein enumerated. It has nothing to do with a presumption of legality of any given action. For example, a law that provides that “drugs are illegal” may be invalidated as unconstitutionally vague (because it doesn’t define drug wiht sufficient particularity), but it will not be held that the posession of cocaine is “presumed legal” because it is “not specifically covered” by the law. On the contrary, a defendant would not doubt be prosecuted anyway, because cocaine is obviously a drug, and it would be the burden of the _defendant_ to prove that, gee, he didn’t know _what_ a drug was for purposes of the law, because the law doesn’t say. But constitutonal challenges based on vagueness and overbreadth implicate the Fourteenth Amendment, not the Ninth. BRICKER – Thanks, man. I’m going to print that out and frame it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/48 "2002-09-06T20:32:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smapti \* > Judge: “Mister James, do you have anything to say for yourself?” > Jimmy James: “Tubel-Cain?” > Judge: “The court finds in favor of Mr. James.” [Homer] But what if I were to shake your hand in _this_ wise? [/Homer] ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/49 "2002-09-07T00:20:44Z")
I’ve heard that Congress v1.1 would have enought cheat codes for a whole book. L78or59oy55tkp22oe654 r25qx69wu501zyb565 ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/50 "2002-09-07T02:41:11Z")
QUOTE]\*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Some Guy \* > \*\*No, no, no. > > The “Secret Code” is A,B,B,A - that way you get infinite lives. > > \*\* [ \*\*And every time you say it, does the duck come down and give you $100? 😉 l] \*\* [/QUOTE] That would, of course, be the “Secret Word” - which is something else entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142/51 "2002-09-07T05:07:48Z")
I remember last year getting a ticket from the parking department here at school. I wanted to fight it because there were at least (at last count) one billion reasons why I was completely and totally innocent of all wrong doing. Well, one of the reasons was that the ticket claimed that I had a two door car. Wait a second, hold the presses people! You see, I had a three door car. This ticket was incorrect. It had false information on it and so clearly it must be thrown out. A loophole! Naturally I brought this argument up to the traffic court when I went to appeal my fine. The judge heard the argument and determined that it would have, in no possible way, hindered my ability to realize the ticket was referencing my car. Pay the fine next case please. And there it was. My loophole suddenly squeezed shut right as I was jumping through it, leaving me stuck, hovering in midair…and $20 poorer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-think-theres-a-secret-code-that-will-unlock-everything/127142.md?page=2)