Septimaeus

Oh you mean the two-syllable thing. That was more for the joke lol

I think it works as a rule of thumb: if message is simple enough that context makes it obvious, two blinks will suffice. But no, it wouldn’t be useful as an actual lexical cypher.

Not erasure; it’s cool. At least, it’s not a deliberate act of self-erasure IME.

Here’s a few of the many reasons bi people sometimes call themselves “gay:”

1. Simplicity: lots of people lack a mentally distinct category for bi and think of it as a subset of gay, so if you’re bi you learn to sometimes lean into it just to save time.
2. The bi-cycle: it’s not unusual for bi folk to experience predominantly same-sex attraction for a while. So they might identify more often as gay for that time, especially if they’re in a same sex relationship.
3. Brand recognition: bi doesn’t have the history that gay does in public discourse. We were usually just called gay. I’ve never heard a pundit talk about “the bi agenda” on daytime television, for example. So gay is sometimes preferred when we’re connecting with that lived experience.

Hope that helps ;)

LOL. Doesn’t that mean it’s completely ambiguous?

Well granted, it’s high-context communication. But I’m willing to bet you’d know what I meant if you were trying to merge and I double-tapped lights.

Three would make me wonder if it’s an ongoing flashing light.

Yeah IME three is less general, usually reserved for a problem or need for caution, like if someone is driving at night with all their lights out or a visible chassis/drivetrain issue, or there’s a cop/wreck ahead.

modern piece of work, not historical

That I think was my central bias reading this: just being accustomed to considering hagiographical art in a historical context where erasure is usually frowned upon. I forget that in many places we’re still building and renovating cathedrals, and in Italy perhaps moreso.

I’d certainly interpret it that way if it fit.

The only issue I’d see with that convention is that in many scenarios in which you’d use it — other driver makes room for you to merge, brakes early to let you turn left, and so forth — you (should) already have half of the hazard lights actively repeating, which could muddle the message. But otherwise I like it.

Another random convention I learned early on was rapid triple-tap beams (i.e., like a strobe) = “speed trap ahead”

Rock on. Were there any instances of local parlance you found peculiar or surprising?

(Edit: real answer) For most acknowledgements, I double-tap a light — beams, brakes, or hazards depending on current lighting conditions and relative position of other driver — because most things I would say to them are two beats long:

• “Thank you”
• ”Sorry”
• “My bad”
• ”Go on”
• ”Nice drift”
• ”You drunk?”

My expectations about this story, given the headline, were all hilariously wrong.

First, it was not a random parishioner, but the original, now 83-year-old artist.

Next, it was not vandalism. The Vatican demanded the face be scrubbed off the fresco (edit: swype thought I meant the drink).

Next, it was not just an angry local rabble’s mistaken identity. The artist admitted it was her face.

Finally, the politician is still in office, and actually commented on it, joke-flirt reciprocating that she was no angel.

Yet it is Jean-Luc who expresses unease, right?

So perhaps more like the BADC template variant:

How sure are you that you’re not a 1930s British funny paper villain, Nigel?