Beads?

[altivo]

*temporarily aborts planned entry*

"Furry bead code?" Huh?

This is a joke, right? Like the handkerchief codes and all that other nonsense? You're face to face with someone and you can't ask them a question if it's something you need to know? You'd rather be completely confused by a dozen contradictory color codes being passed around and your inability to distinguish "sparkles" and "stripes" in poor light conditions?

Jeez, as if there wasn't enough masochism inherent in being visibly furry, we have to dream up stuff like that?

Comments

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Well, master that, and you'll find you can easily understand the small stuff like binary clocks. At least those have less (and steadier) colors. =)

Hmm, I wonder if there's a furry bar code already... Would make con registrations more easier anyways.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Compared to the randomness of color codes (and the rigidity they seem to imply but fail to deliver) a binary clock is child's play. ;p

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

Assuming you're looking at this entry from yiffsafely... well, most of the responses there seem pretty negative, so yeah. And woe be unto he who confuses yellow with gold (for instance).

Also, this entry is now the fifth Google hit on a search for "furry bead code" (with quotes). Impressive.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Eeek. You're right. In fact, it's fourth when I search it this morning. Maybe I should make up yet another utterly contradictory version of the silly thing just to confound the matter before it grows any farther?

Yes, I was looking at that entry in yiffsafely after the topic was introduced in an online conversation last night. The other party in the conversaion, however, was looking at the even more complex and mostly contradictory entry at web.mac.com, which of course produced immediate confusion.

The mane of my fursuit has large colored beads braided into it. By either of these codes it would be sending some very peculiar messages.

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

So I have a pair of side-cutters and some 120 grit sandpaper in my left back pocket, I walk into a bar called "The Toolbox" for a wee after-brunch martini... who am I gonna get hit on by? (I really missed the boat on this one, how embarrassing!)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Just beware of the guy with the slide rule sticking out of his right hip pocket. That one's a real nasty kink. ;p

[schnee.livejournal.com]

I think it's a cute idea, myself. Probably not really all that useful, of course, but then, the same can also be said about hankies (and people use those, too, despite that).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hanky codes generally agreed on red and blue, and that was about the only thing I ever saw anyone pretending to take seriously. On the other hand, it also implied a rigidity of role-taking that I found rather disappointing.

I preferred the parody version of the code that had things like White hanky, any pocket: "I have a cold".

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Always kinda thought the handkerchief code was an exaggeration or urban legend, what with no two sources seeming to agree what colour means what. (Besides, what happens if I just need to blow my nose?)

Those binary clocks, incidentally, look adorable.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

See my note to schnee above. Some people did try to take the hanky codes seriously. Generally it was a sign that they were new to the scene and had no idea what life was really all about.

[damnbear.livejournal.com]

What are the color codes for "I have a life, a home, am unfun, have way too much work to worry about you're particular fetishes are, and I like to make fun of those with too much time on their hands?"

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There are no codes for that, of course, and we need to make some up. Unfortunately, they've already used up all the practical colors. We'll have to settle for confusing shades like chartreuse with purple sparkles, and mauve tinted glass.

I'm amused by the discovery that this LJ post has already made it into the top of the Google results for "furry bead code" though.

[shadow-stallion.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Furry bead code?

Is this just another excuse for furries to not have to talk to one another and show how poor their social skills are?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Probably. It certainly made me laugh, especially in the context in which I encountered it and with the immediate confusion caused by two of us using different versions of the code in discussing it.

Gary's reaction was as mirthful as my own. He thinks someone needs to take an industrial design and a business communication course in order to learn some practicality before attacking a project of this sort. ;p

[delphinios.livejournal.com]

Like I feared, it got overcomplicated as such codes often do.

It would probably be simpler just to write your FurryMUCK WIXXX on a card and pin that under your namebadge. :D

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Except the print would have to be so small for some people to fit all their stuff on there you'd need to carry a magnifying glass or bend down and peer at the thing in the dark.

Whatever happened to the idea of talking to someone to figure out whether they really are interesting or not?

*snicker* Don't get me started on wixxx, now. It has terminology that NO one understands.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

If the red bead is in my right ear I want you to beat me
with a rat tailed comb. If the bead is green it
means I want a cookie at Starbucks.

C'mon Altivo, its not so hard!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And if I'm red-green colorblind, like a surprisingly high percentage of the male population, I still have to either ask you anyway, risk getting it wrong, or avoid you. Which is most likely? ;p

My point is of course not that such codes can't be used if people want to, but making them exceedingly detailed and complex is counterproductive. Propagating them without universal agreement on their meanings is even worse.

And, ultimately, they do nothing to improve furry social skills, which are often abysmal as has already been pointed out.

Beaded bridle anyone?

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Whinnygrin.

Then there was my fursuit at MFF in which I portrayed a hippie, pirate horse (make love not arr) in beaded bridle and mane bands, tail bands, wrist bracelets and peace sign necklace. I wonder if there may have been a hidden code when I designed the pieces that said: Binary Cocks.

Uh, nuff said.

Grin.
Steed

Re: Beaded bridle anyone?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmm, as suggested above, maybe just having our wixxx tattooed somewhere obvious?

...making life easier through overly-complicated tasks.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

LOL Way to go, Alt. I'm annoyed by the overcomplicated methods people use to do very simple things. I'm with you- if you want someone to do something to you, you should have enough conviction in what you want to be able to ask that person, without have to check their bead code first. Otherwise, what's the point of even speaking? Why don't we start grunting and just use an overelaborate system of hand gestures or small colored flags to commmunicate? *points at self, draws small circles in the air and then sucks on finger*... that means I think your bead system of communication sucks :P

Re: ...making life easier through overly-complicated tasks.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this one, obviously. ;p

[bariki.livejournal.com]

Wow, complicated. I think that goes into the 'nice idea but impractical' pile.

At horse shows here in the UK, we braid coloured ribbons into the tails of some horses: blue for stallions - the balls might be a giveaway, but they're sometimes hard to see from behind ;) - , red for horses that kick and green for young/novice horses that might behave unpredictably. Perhaps something similar for furries would work out: purple means 'I haven't washed in two weeks', red means 'I like spiked dildos' and white means 'the dusty mark on my upper lip is not talcum powder'?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

purple means 'I haven't washed in two weeks',

Of course if we are sensitive to this, we wouldn't need the purple ribbon to tell. ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*looks at all those codes and colours and things* Hmm too much hassle for me.. *curls up on your bed and snoozes some more*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I agree. It's too much hassle for too little gain. It seems to me that we should just talk to each other to find out the answers to that stuff.