4 ms·

I'm happy that it worked as well, but then there's this: > Police say the teenager told investigators that she traveled with the man through North Carolina, Te

I'm happy that it worked as well, but then there's this: > Police say the teenager told investigators that she traveled with the man through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. Authorities allege she had been attempting to get motorists’ attention to call 911. Apparently it didn't work very fast.

irrational 5y ago
What percentage of the population would have any idea what that hand signal (or any hand signal) means? Other than extremely common things like the middle finger, of course.
- klyrs 5y ago
  Curiously, the middle finger has been used as a duress signal by prisoners of war: http://www.usspueblo.org/Prisoners/The_Digit_Affair.html http://www.usspueblo.org/Prisoners/The_Digit_Affair.html
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    That was prisoners in North Korea at a time of much less intercultural contact. It might still work -- in North Korea -- today, or it might not. It could not possibly work anywhere else.
    - klyrs 5y ago
      Indeed, times have changed. The whole world consumes American media. Despite this, my brother and I were able to have coded conversations in a European hostel (where everybody spoke English fluently) using shared anecdotes (Shaka, when the walls fell). We weren't in duress, but not all is lost for people who are.
- ryanmercer 5y ago
  Probably not very many, I've never heard of "domestic violence hand signals".
  - robbrown451 5y ago
    Well now you have.
    - labster 5y ago
      And knowing is half the battle.
- beambot 5y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_for_Help https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_for_Help > The Signal for Help was introduced by the Canadian Women's Foundation on April 14, 2020. Behavior change & language development take time.
Jarwain 5y ago
It's weird because maybe a small percentage of people know the signal, and if the signal became Too Popular then it would lose effectiveness or otherwise be recognized by those who would cause harm
- Aunche 5y ago
  That is true of the codeword calls for help. As a hand signal, this has more utility even if it's known because you can hide it from your attacker.
  - quantified 5y ago
    Effective here because it didn’t need to be heard. So good for loud places too. ASL for “help me” would cross the TikTok culture gap.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    Your comment reminds me of a video clip I saw where someone dialed 911 and proceeded to "order a pizza," thus giving them her address. She got lucky and the dispatcher was fairly quick to figure it out and didn't hang up on her. https://youtu.be/ZJL_8kNFmTI https://youtu.be/ZJL_8kNFmTI
    - gaius_baltar 5y ago
      I suppose it's not pure luck at all. Here in Brazil dispatchers are trained to cope with callers that appear to be trying to sneak an address in a seemly unusual call.

irrational 5y ago

What percentage of the population would have any idea what that hand signal (or any hand signal) means? Other than extremely common things like the middle finger, of course.

klyrs 5y ago
Curiously, the middle finger has been used as a duress signal by prisoners of war: http://www.usspueblo.org/Prisoners/The_Digit_Affair.html http://www.usspueblo.org/Prisoners/The_Digit_Affair.html
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  That was prisoners in North Korea at a time of much less intercultural contact. It might still work -- in North Korea -- today, or it might not. It could not possibly work anywhere else.
  - klyrs 5y ago
    Indeed, times have changed. The whole world consumes American media. Despite this, my brother and I were able to have coded conversations in a European hostel (where everybody spoke English fluently) using shared anecdotes (Shaka, when the walls fell). We weren't in duress, but not all is lost for people who are.
ryanmercer 5y ago
Probably not very many, I've never heard of "domestic violence hand signals".
- robbrown451 5y ago
  Well now you have.
  - labster 5y ago
    And knowing is half the battle.
beambot 5y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_for_Help https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_for_Help > The Signal for Help was introduced by the Canadian Women's Foundation on April 14, 2020. Behavior change & language development take time.

Jarwain 5y ago

It's weird because maybe a small percentage of people know the signal, and if the signal became Too Popular then it would lose effectiveness or otherwise be recognized by those who would cause harm

Aunche 5y ago
That is true of the codeword calls for help. As a hand signal, this has more utility even if it's known because you can hide it from your attacker.
- quantified 5y ago
  Effective here because it didn’t need to be heard. So good for loud places too. ASL for “help me” would cross the TikTok culture gap.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  Your comment reminds me of a video clip I saw where someone dialed 911 and proceeded to "order a pizza," thus giving them her address. She got lucky and the dispatcher was fairly quick to figure it out and didn't hang up on her. https://youtu.be/ZJL_8kNFmTI https://youtu.be/ZJL_8kNFmTI
  - gaius_baltar 5y ago
    I suppose it's not pure luck at all. Here in Brazil dispatchers are trained to cope with callers that appear to be trying to sneak an address in a seemly unusual call.