5 by 5

Lily

Chantarelle-Lily-Anne
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okay so i was just watching CLear and Present Danger and the guy on there was saying to this other guy when thety were testing the walkie talkies or something that the signal was '5 by 5'
which remnded me of faith and i was like 'ooohhh buffy refernce' and then i was like, wait this movies older than buffy, awww crap

id never heard it used anywhere other than faith before

does anyone know what it means, i know there has been some talk of it in other threads and i know it generally means 'okay or good' but where does it come from?
 
well that wpould actually make sense cause they were like amry/air force people i think

oooh an danother thing about clear and present danger, it has Quentin Travers in it (the head watcher guy), hehehe hes so pompous i love him!
 
care to share?
cause that means nothing to me since i havent seen it :😕: , like i cant really understand why Faith would say something from aliens?-
 
I'm pretty sure it means "loud and clear" meaning they understand each other clearly, which could translate to "everything is good," which is how Faith uses it.
 
Originally posted by BeefChickenPie
I'm pretty sure it means "loud and clear" meaning they understand each other clearly, which could translate to "everything is good," which is how Faith uses it.
Yeah, I remembered wondering what 'five by five' meant awhile back and found a similar answer here:http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-10/epid-37/
While the meaning is pretty clear from context (we're fine and dandy), the origin of this phrase is interesting. And hard to track down. The best explanation I've seen is that it derives from military radio communication. A scale of 1 to 5 was used to describe the clarity and volume of a signal. Hence 5x5 meant that I can hear you and understand you. The modern military term being "loud and clear".

Very clever saying, I think, very clever.
 
wonder if Joss ever thought just how much conversastion would come of using just that one phrase in the context of a 7 year long show lol
its the little things that keep us watching!
 
Still wonder where Faith got it, maybe her dad was a pilot ... why have we never seen her parents btw?

Anyways, I use five by five nowadays, any of you doing this too?
 
Originally posted by Allycat
Still wonder where Faith got it, maybe her dad was a pilot ... why have we never seen her parents btw?

Anyways, I use five by five nowadays, any of you doing this too?
Of course I do. I think it's the coolest saying in the world; too bad the people I say it to have no idea what I'm talking about.
 
Originally posted by Allycat
Still wonder where Faith got it, maybe her dad was a pilot ... why have we never seen her parents btw?

Anyways, I use five by five nowadays, any of you doing this too?

I think if Faith did get her own show, it will probably explains about her parents and the word.

I rarely use the word, people get confused looks on their faces, when I say that.
 
heh i thoght i was the only one who said that allt he time
all my friends are used to me saying it, although the other day i said it to a bartender and he just loked at me like, what the hell?
 
I think that's just funny, plus nobody thinks five by five is annoying, and with a few other of my expressions like "anyways" ... which really pisses them of! Picture it in the middle of a sentence in a foreign language!
 
lol, i can just imagine

thats true, i never get people saying, 'stop saying that' wehereas half my other sayings are constantly getting bagged out
 
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