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Informal Code WordAn informal code word is a term used, without formal agreement and in many cases without any prior agreement, with the intention of communicating more to one or more listeners or readers, who are predisposed to see its double meaning, than to another or others. Expectant parents, for instance, may refer, within hearing of their first child, to "our friend", meaning either the fetus or the anticipated child. At the first use, those words may be understood that way by the listening parent, without assistance; on the other hand, they also might instead be explained, pre-emptively or in response to perceived incomprehension, by a wink that means "That's a code word", or by a nod toward the pregnant mother's abdomen. Informal code words can find use in propaganda, distinct from use of euphemistic code words to delay or avoid emotional responses in the audience. They may be intended to be construed as generalized platitudes by the majority of listeners, but as quite specific promises by those for whom the specific wording was crafted. For instance, a reference in late-20th-century America to "places like Pearl Harbor and Bataan" (while omitting mention of Normandy) would seem to many a vague expression of respect for World War II veterans, but would often mean "I won't trust Japan or the Japanese" to veterans of the Pacific Theater, and their relatives old enough to have followed the news and propaganda of the war.
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