History Main / TalkingThroughTechnique

* In ''[[ForgottenRealms The Sorceror]]'' a spellcaster who could not use magic at this time suspected the presence of an invisible enemy. He moved his fingers through the [[MagicalGesture somatic components]] of a spell he wanted until a wizard looking at him understood and cast it.

->''"This [the CubanMissileCrisis] is not a blockade. This is '''language!''' A new vocabulary, the likes of which the world has never seen! This is [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy President Kennedy]] '''communicating''' with [[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev Secretary Khrushchev]]!"''

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Mash}}'' Hawkeye is sent to a frontline aid station, which the Army loses radio contact with after receiving a report that a doctor there has been killed. The rest of the 4077th is concerned, until B.J. receives a patient from the aid station who has been sewn up using a technique that is specifically Hawkeye's style.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's short story ''Gulf'' has two supergenius spies locked in a monitored cell communicate through a game of cards.

* ''VideoGame/Civilization'' can sometimes do this with the AI. A friendly AI makes suddenly one sided demands of you? They want war. The AI might do a show of force of troops along your boarder. A particularly clever move is for the AI to send a message demanding you withdraw your troops from their boarders. Agreeing to will appease them... for now, as you don't have to do it. Unlike other requests, you cannot brush them off... you must declare war. The resulting XanatosGambit unfolds for the AI:

*** All of this translates that the AI wants a war with you, but wants the war to start favorably for them. Your best bet is to Agree and let the AI come at you, thinking your boarders are less secure, but keeping your troops just out of view, but that puts you at a disadvantage.

* In the short story "Down on the Farm" of Creator/CharlesStross's [[TheLaundrySeries Laundry Series]], the titular "funny farm" is an asylum for genius-level civil servants working in [[TheMenInBlack the Laundry]]. Since their service deals with {{Eldritch Abomination}}s on a regular basis, an insane necromantic scientist is a [[OhCrap bit]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt of]] [[ApocalypseHow a]] [[ZombieApocalypse security]] [[GrandTheftMe risk]]; hence the building is sealed off tight from the outside world and insulated in every form imaginable. Communications with the outside world tend to be on the imaginative side. [[spoiler:Because of the insulation, the Farm is also a good place for secret research -- since banging away on computers is a bit on the obvious side and a big security risk, the scientists "program" with a chessboard, chess pieces, and a language made of chess moves. Hidden, but very clever.]]

* In Creator/JimButcher's Literature/DresdenFiles series, the novel ''Skin Trade'' has a brilliant example of this. Harry has to fulfill a high profile heist due to a favor Mab owed [[spoiler:Nicodemeus]] even though the employer is able to literally overhear everything Harry says during the operation, and wants nothing more than to see Harry dead "by accident." With Mab's approval, they set up the convert communication method where Harry can communicate with an undercover associate in plain sight.

* In {{Bridge}}, this is an explicit part of the game. The first phase consists of the two teams betting for how many tricks they can take, and the two partners each try to communicate what kind of cards they have to make a reasonable bet, not with words but with the betting mechanism itself. Secret "languages" are generally prohibited, and the opponents may ask for the meaning of a given signal if they don't understand their language.

* According to the "Hawaii 2.0" arc in the {{Wildcats}} comics, the Coda have a martial art that doubles as a language. Zealot and Nemesis use it to talk past an immortal madman with microscopic vision and superhearing.

* "Series/{{Chuck}}": In "Chuck vs. The Nemesis", the Fulcrum agent has a gun to Chuck's head, threatening to shoot him. Bryce, Chuck's former best friend at Stanford and a CIA Agent, asks Chuck in Klingon if he is wearing a vest, to which Chuck says yes, also in klingon. Bryce then shoots Chuck, surprising the Fulcrum agent, and everyone else, until Chuck reveals what Bryce asked him, and that he was indeed wearing a bulletproof vest. The Fulcrum Agent is then taken into custody, and the NSA sweeps the area clean of any evidence of what happened.

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* In ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'', Jack Ryan communicates with Soviet Captain Ramius Marko by using morse code in flashing lights attached to their periscope. Since Marko couldn't respond with morse code (the code would be recognized audibly by the crew of his ship if he tapped it out), they resorted to yes/no questions he could answer by sending a sonic range verification 'ping' to the US sub.

* A minor scene in ''Film/TheSumOfAllFears'' shows the Jack Ryan and other CIA analysts looking at satellite photographs of Russian tanks, still parked at their bases despite recent events that should have resulted in their mobilization. Jack theorises that the fact that the tanks haven't moved is a message from the Russian President, firstly affirming that he does not have warlike intentions, and secondly quietly stating that he did ''not'' order the recent attacks.

* CodexAlera (being an endless GambitPileup between [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] and {{Manipulative Bastard}}s of varying competence,) has a fair number of messages being hidden inside actions. It's particularly pronounced with the Canim, (who, even in face-to-face conversations, rely much more on body language and non-verbal communication than humans do,) and in ''Captain's Fury'' Tavi tries to explain Nasaug's indications that [[spoiler: he actually wants to take his invading troops and leave Alera]] to [[SmugSnake senator Arnos]] without success.

* In JimButcher's DresdenFiles series, the novel ''Skin Trade'' has a brilliant example of this. Harry has to fulfill a high profile heist due to a favor Mab owed [[spoiler:Nicodemeus]] even though the employer is able to literally overhear everything Harry says during the operation, and wants nothing more than to see Harry dead "by accident." With Mab's approval, they set up the convert communication method where Harry can communicate with an undercover associate in plain sight.

* There was an ''{{NCIS}}'' episode where people were communicating in code through a MMORPG or something; they managed to crack part of it, but didn't crack it all perfectly and accidentally ordered a hit on someone while trying to arrange a meeting.

* In an episode of the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' reboot, Starbuck is flying a Cylon ship and has to communicate with the human pilots that she's friendly using only her piloting. After evading their initial fire, she falls into battle formation with one of the ships. Once they start to get the hint, she dips her wings back and forth, a traditional pilot salute, to further confirm that she's a friendly.

->''"This [the CubanMissileCrisis] is not a blockade. This is '''language!''' A new vocabulary, the likes of which the world has never seen! This is [[JohnFKennedy President Kennedy]] '''communicating''' with [[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev Secretary Khrushchev]]!"''

->''"This [the CubanMissileCrisis] is not a blockade. This is '''language!''' A new vocabulary, the likes of which the world has never seen! This is [[JohnFKennedy President Kennedy]] '''communicating''' with [[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhruschev Secretary Khrushchev]]!"''

->''"This [the CubanMissileCrisis] is not a blockade. This is '''language!''' A new vocabulary, the likes of which the world has never seen! This is [[JohnFKennedy President Kennedy]] '''communicating''' with [[NikitaKhruschev Secretary Khrushchev]]!"''

->''"This [the CubanMissileCrisis] is not a blockade. This is '''language!''' A new vocabulary, the likes of which the world has never seen! This is [[JohnFKennedy President Kennedy]] '''communicating''' with [[UsefulNotes/NikitaKhruschev Secretary Khrushchev]]!"''

->''"This [the CubanMissileCrisis] is not a blockade. This is '''language!''' A new vocabulary, the likes of which the world has never seen! This is [[JohnFKennedy President Kennedy]] '''communicating''' with Secretary Khrushchev!"''

* Subverted in the ''CowboyBebop'' episode "Bohemian Rhapsody". The crew of the Bebop thought that the chess pieces they found on apprehended thieves might hold some secret message, but they were merely a signal from the mastermind to his former employers that it was he who was pulling the jobs. He had a reputation as a chess lover.

* In JimButcher's DresdenFiles series, the novel SkinTrade has a brilliant example of this. Harry has to fulfill a high profile heist due to a favor Mab owed [[spoiler:Nicodemeus]] even though the employer is able to literally overhear everything Harry says during the operation, and wants nothing more than to see Harry dead "by accident." With Mab's approval, they set up the convert communication method where Harry can communicate with an undercover associate in plain sight.