Real DaVinci-Type Codes?: Secrets in Plain Sight

[Scott Haley]

I heard that some folk songs and poetry that we use as nursery rhymes today were disguised criticisms of political figures. Peasants could not speak aganst noblemen openly without being punished. I heard that

Goosey, goosey, gander !

Where shall I wander ?

Upstairs and downstairs,

And in my lady’s chamber.

There I met an old man,

Who would not say his prayers.

I took him by the left leg,

And threw him down the stairs.

is about Oliver Cromwell's usurping the king of England. You have to be careful, since there's a lot of poor scholarship out there, and it looks like some people just guess about the history. I found two different meanings for this nursery rhyme in a casual google search.

--Scott

 

[Meffy]

This isn't a code as such, but a concealment in plain sight: the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira. According to what I've read it's supposed to have started as a way for slaves, who were forbidden to practice fighting skills, secretly to do so while appearing to be participating in an acrobatic dance. Nowadays it's evolved into a strange, partly cooperative, partly competitive performing form. [edit] It's very rhythmic, and practically always performed to music. I loooove Brazilian music.

 

[grayman]

I don't know if this counts, but what about the Navajo code talkers used in the Pacific in WWII?