Semaphore (pronounced sem-uh-fawr
or sem-uh-fohr)
(1) A “line-of-sight”
apparatus (mechanical, hand-held or activated and now even electronic) for
conveying information by means of visual signals (typically flags or lights,
the positions of which are changed as required).
(2) Any
of various devices for signaling by changing the position of a light, flag or
other identifiable indicator. Historically,
a common use of “semaphore” was as a noun adjunct (also called a noun modifier
or attributive noun) including “semaphore flag”, “semaphore chart”, “semaphore
operator etc.
(3) A codified
system of signaling, especially a system by which a special flag is held in
each hand and various positions of the arms denoting specific letters, numbers
etc. It remains part of Admiralty
signals training.
(4) In biochemistry
(as semaphoring), any of a class of proteins that assist growing axons to find
an appropriate target and to form synapses.
(5) In
biology (as semaphoront), an organism as seen in a specific time during its
ontogeny or life cycle, as the object of identification or basis for
systematics.
(6) In
botany (as semaphore plant), a synonym for the telegraph plant (Codariocalyx
motorius), a tropical Asian shrub, one of the few plants capable of rapid
movement and so named because the jerking motions of the leaves recalled in observers
the actions of the arms of Admiralty signallers and the name dates from the
Raj.
(7) In programming,
a bit, token, fragment of code, or some other mechanism which is used to
restrict access to a shared function or device to a single process at a time,
or to synchronize and coordinate events in different processes, the thread
increments the semaphore to prevent other threads from entering the critical
section at the same time.
(8) In figurative
use (in human and animal behavior), certain non-verbal communications, used consciously
and unconsciously, the concept often explored as a literary device.
(9) To
signal (information) by means of semaphore
1814:
From the French sémaphore, the
construct being the Ancient Greek, σῆμα (sêma) (mark, sign, token) + the French -phore (from the Ancient Greek -φόρος (-phóros), the suffix indicating a bearer
or carrier) and thus understood as “a bearer of signals”. The Greek –phóros was from pherein (to
carry), from the primitive Indo-European root bher- (to carry). The verb
was derived from the noun. Semaphore is
a noun & verb, semaphorist, semaphoront & semaphorin are nouns, semaphored
is a verb, semaphoring is a verb & adjective, semaphoric & semaphorical
are adjectives and semaphorically is an adverb; the noun plural is semaphores. The noun semaphorism is non-standard but is
used in behavioral linguistics to describe patterns of language used to convey
meaning in a “coded” form which can be deconstructed for meaning only by sender
and receiver. The form semaphoreology seems not to exist but if
anyone ever makes a discipline of the study of semaphore (academic careers have
been built from more improbable origins), presumably there will be semaphoreologists.
Chart of the standard semaphore alphabet (top left), a pair of semaphore flags (bottom left) and Lindsay Lohan practicing her semaphore signaling moves (just in case, should the need arise); this is the letter “N”.
Semaphore flags are not always red and yellow, but the colors are close to a universal standard, especially in naval and international signalling. There was no intrinsic meaning denoted by the use of red & yellow, the hues chosen for their contrast and visual clarity, something important in maritime environments or other outdoor locations when light could often be less than ideal although importantly, the contrast was sustained even in bright sunshine. Because semaphore often was used for ship-to-to ship signalling, the colors had to be not only easily distinguishable at a distance but not be subject to “melting” or “blending”, a critical factor when used on moving vessels in often pitching conditions, the operator’s moving arms adding to the difficulties. In naval and maritime semaphore systems, the ICS (International Code of Signals) standardized full-solid red and yellow for the flags but variants do exist (red, white, blue & black seem popular) and these can be created for specific conditions, for a particular cultural context or even as promotional items.
L-I-N-D-S-A-Y-space-L-O-H-A-N spelled-out in ICS (International Code of Signals) semaphore. One can't tell when this knowledge will come in handy.
Early automobiles
were sometimes fitted with mechanical semaphore signals to indicate a driver’s
intention to change direction; these the British called “trafficators” (“flippers”
in casual use) and they were still being fitted in the late 1950s, by which
time they’d long been illuminated to glow a solid amber. What the mechanical semaphores did was use
the model of the extended human arm, used by riders or drivers in the horse-drawn
age to signal their intentions to others and although obviously vulnerable to
damage, the devices were at the time a good solution although the plastics used
from the 1930s were prone to fading, diminishing the brightness. When electronics advanced to the point where
sequentially flashing turn indicators (“flashers”) cheaply could be mass-produced
the age of the semaphore signal ended although they did for a while persist on
trucks where they were attached to the exterior of the driver’s door and hand
activated.
Hand-operated
semaphore signal on driver's door of RHD (right-hand-drive) truck (left), an Austin
A30 with electrically-activated semaphore indicating impending leftward change
of direction (centre) and electrically-activated right-side semaphore on 1937
Rolls-Royce Phantom III Gurney Nutting Touring Limousine (right).
The A30 (1952-1956) was powered by an 803 cm3 (49
cubic inch) four cylinder engine while the Phantom III (1936-1939) was fitted
with a 7338 cm3 (447 cubic inch) V12 (noted diarist Sir Henry “Chips” Channon (1897–1958) owned one) so the driving experience was
very different but both used the same Lucas semaphore assembly. Note the "BEWARE, TRAFFICATORS IN
USE" notice in A30's rear window.
Because drivers are no longer attuned to look for the now archaic
semaphores, some jurisdictions (while still allowing their operation), will
permit road registration only if supplementary flashing indicators (now usually
amber) are fitted. In the 1960s many
trafficator-equipped cars were modernized with flashers and it's
now only collectors or restorers who prize the originality of the obsolete.
Low-emission
Trabant (rated at 1 PP (pony-power)) with driver using semaphore signal to
indicate intention to turn left, Barnim district, Bernau bei Berlin, GDR, 1981.
As
late as the 1960s, in some places, trucks & vans still were being built
with a hand-operated semaphore mounted on the driver’s door and specialized
vehicles likely also to have an occupant on the passenger-side (such as
fire-engines) sometimes had two. If need
be they could also be improvised, as in the low-tech “lollipop” sign being used
in this image of a two-seater buggy, a vehicle crafted using the salvageable section
of a Trabant which may have suffered frontal damage in a crash. Trabants really could go fast enough to have
damaging crashes and although not engineered with the “crumple zones” which
were introduced in the West as a way of absorbing an impact’s energy before it
reached the occupants, in their own way, crumple Trabants did. In the GDR (German Democratic Republic, the
old East Germany), the long-running (1957-1991) Trabant's bodywork was made
with Duroplast, a composite thermosetting plastic (and a descendant of
Bakelite). It was a resin plastic
reinforced with fibres (the GDR used waste from both cotton & wool
processing) and was structurally similar to fibreglass although the urban myth Trabants
were made from reinforced cardboard persists.
The first Trabants left the Saxony production line in November 1957,
only weeks after the Soviet Union had startled the world (certainly those in
Pentagon and such places) by launching Sputnik, the first man-made Earth
satellite. Launched into an elliptical
low Earth orbit where it circulated for three months, it did nothing other than
transmit radio pulses which, because of the flight path, could at various time
be detected just about anywhere below.
Compared with what space programmes would become, it sounds now a modest
achievement but at the time was a sensation and the event which triggered the “space
race”.
Two comrades approaching their 1957 Trabant P50 in stylish korallenrot (coral red) over creme (cream). Note the amber turn signals; Trabants were factory-fitted with flashers at a time Rolls-Royce and other manufacturers in the “advanced West” were still installing antiquated semaphores.
In the Eastern Bloc there weren’t many
marketing departments but there was a vast propaganda apparatus and opportunistically,
the name Trabant was derived from the Middle High German drabant (satellite; companion;
foot soldier) which at the time was a positive association with the famous
Sputnik but it later became emblematic of the economic and moral bankruptcy of
the whole communist project: While by the fall of the Berlin Wall (1961-1989)
Soviet satellites and related technologies greatly had advanced, the “Trubi”
remained a little changed “1957 time capsule”.
Although much despised in the early 1990s in the aftermath of the
break-up of the Soviet Union (1922-1991), opinions softened and the survivors
of the more than three million produced (a greater volume than BMC's (British
Motor Corporation) Mini (1959-2000)) gained a cult following. More correctly, the marque gained a number
of cult followings, some attracted by the “retro-cuteness”, some with genuine,
Putinesque nostalgia for the old Soviet system and other with a variety of
projects as varied as EV (electric vehicle) conversions, the installation of
V8s for drag-racing and the re-purposing in many forms of competition.
Two comrades with their 1960 Trabant P50 in stylish two-tone pastellblau (pastel blue) over creme (cream) admiring the Leipzig Opera building, Saxony, circa 1961.
The Trubi is now a fixture in the lower
reaches (a notch above the Austin Allegro) of the collector market. The
photograph of the horse-drawn Trubi, while not representative of the entire
Eastern Bloc experience under communist rule, captures a sight which would not
have been uncommon away from large urban centres (which could be grim enough). Dr Henry Kissinger (1923-2023; US national
security advisor 1969-1975 & secretary of state 1937-1977) said his abiding
memory of Eastern Bloc cities was of “the smell of boiled cabbage and an unrelenting greyness.” In fairness, English cooks probably inflicted
worse on the noble cabbage than anything done behind the Iron Curtain but his
sense of “greyness”
was literal, the appalling air pollution of the GDR (its industrial base
powered by burning lignite (from the Latin lignum (wood)) and other forms of low-grade,
“dirty coal”), thus the griminess of the buildings. Places like London similarly were affected
and it was only after the 1952 “Great Smog of London” that the Clean Air Act (1956)
became law, meaning air quality began slowly to improve. That the photographs of the era look so drab
is not because of the film stock; buildings literally were “dirty”. Because of various other advances in health
care, it’s difficult to quantify the contribution to reducing mortality
achieved by reducing air pollution but few doubt it was significant. 
Left
& right semaphore signals (trafficators): Lucas part number SF80 for one’s
Austin A30, Morris Minor or Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith.
In the 1950s, the price may have varied between resellers.
Although
the grim realities of post-war economics meant standardization began to
intrude, even in the 1950s Rolls-Royce made much of things being “bespoke” and
while that was still true of some of the coach-work, what lay beneath the
finely finished surface was often from the industry parts-bin and the semaphore
turn signals the company fitted to the Silver Wraith (1946-1958) and Silver
Dawn (1949-1955) was Lucas part number SF80, exactly the same component used
by the humble Austin A30 and Morris Minor (1948-1971) where the
functionality was identical. Presumably, were one to buy the part from Rolls-Royce one would have been charged more
(perhaps it was wrapped in more elaborate packaging) and that’s a well-understood
industry phenomenon. The internet has
made it easier to trace such commonalities but in the 1980s there was a most
useful publication which listed shared part-numbers which differed only in the
prices charged, a switch for a Lamborghini which might retail for hundreds
available from the Fiat parts counter (a busy place folklore suggests) for $12 while those aghast
at the price quoted for a small linkage in a Triumph’s Stag’s induction system were
pleased the same thing could be bought from a Ford dealer for a fraction of the
cost. Rolls-Royce fitted their last
trafficator in 1958 and when Austin updated the A30 as the A35 (1956-1968)
flashers were standard equipment, metal covering the apertures where once the
semaphores had protruded while internally there was a panel concealing what had
once been an access point for servicing.
The Morris Minor, the last of which wasn’t (in CKD (completely knocked
down) form) assembled in New Zealand until 1974(!) switched from trafficators
to flashers in 1961, the exterior and interior gaps concealed al la the A35.
Left-side semaphore on 1951 Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle).
The Latin
sēmaphorum (the alternative form was sēmaphoru) is thought to be a calque of the
Italian semaforo (traffic light), again
borrowed from the French sémaphore in
the literal sense of “signaling system”. The modern Italian for “traffic light” is semaforo although (usually for humorous
effect) sēmaphorum is sometimes used
as Contemporary Latin. Traffic lights
have for over a century regulated the flow of vehicles in urban areas but the
first semaphore signal predated motorized transport, installed in London in
1868. It was introduced not because it
would perform the task better than the policemen then allocated but because it
was cheaper and was an example of the by then common phenomenon of machines
displacing human labor. The early
mechanical devices were pre-programmed and thus didn’t respond to the dynamics
of the environment being controlled and that applied also to the early versions
of the now familiar red-amber-green “traffic lights” which began to proliferate
in the 1920s but by the 1950s there were sometime sensors (weight-sensitive
points in the road) which could “trigger” a green light if the pre-set timing was
creating a needless delay. Even before
the emergence of AI (artificial intelligence) in the modern sense of the term, implementations
of AI had been refining the way traffic light systems regulated vehicular flow and
in major cities (China apparently the most advanced), cameras, sensors, face
and number plate recognition all interact to make traffic lights control the
flow with an efficiency no human(s) could match.
ASMR semaphore porn:
1955 Austin A30. ASMR (Autonomous
Sensory Meridian Response) describes the physical & psychological pleasure
derived from specific stimuli (usually a sound). For some, this can be the sight & sound of South Korean girls on TikTok eating noodles while for those fond of machines it can come from hearing
semaphore turn-signals being raised and lowered.
Whether
it was the early semaphore signals or the soon to be ubiquitous illumined red-amber-green lights,
what the system relied on was compliance; inherently, lacking physical agency,
a piece of colored glass can’t stop a car but that almost always is the effect
of a “red light”. In behaviorism, this
was described as discriminative stimulus (SD) in that the red light culturally
is understood as a universal cue signalling a punishment might follow any
transgression (ie “running the red light”), thus the incentive to obey the
signal and avoid negative consequences (crashing or being fined). What SD does is control behavior through
learned association. The use of red
comes from semiotics and the color is culturally assigned to “stop” as green is
to “go”, these allocated by virtue of historical associations which long
pre-date the technology in the same way semiotics are used (as red & blue)
to denote “hot” & “cold” water when taps are labelled, meaning for
travellers no knowledge of a local language is needed to work out which is
which. In the jargon, the red light is a
“signifier” and the “signified” is stop.
Modern
Mechanix magazine, January 1933.
Sir William
Morris (1877-1963; later Lord Nuffield) held a number of troubling and even at
the time unfashionable views and he’d been sceptical about producing the Morris
Minor (1948-1971), describing the prototype as looking “like
a poached egg”; in that he was right but the Minor proved a highly
profitable, quarter century long success. In the 1930s
however, he did have the imaginative idea of adapting the by then familiar
traffic light (in miniature form) to the automobile itself. The concept was sound, Sir William’s proposed
placement even anticipating the “eye level brake lights” of the 1980s and the inclusion
of green in the code was interesting but the “mini traffic light” wasn’t taken
up and lesson which should have been learned is that in the absence of
legislation compelling change, the industry always will be most reluctant to
invest and not until the 1960s would such mandates (for better and worse) begin
to be imposed.
1947
Volvo P444 (1947-1958, left) and 2022 Volvo XC 40 (introduced 2017, right). Volvo abandoned the semaphores years before
the British but the designers clearly haven’t forgotten, the rear reflectors on
the XC 40 using the shape. Volvo replaced the semaphores with conventional flashers but not before the modernist Swedes had tried the odd inventive solution.
In idiomatic
use, semaphore’s deployment tends to be metaphorical or humorous, the former
used as a literary device, borrowed from behavioral psychology. “To semaphore” can mean “wildly or exaggeratedly
gesture” but can also convey the idea of a communication effected without
explicitly stating something and that can either be as a form of “unspoken code”
understood only between the interlocutors or something unconscious (often
called body-language). “Semaphoring a
message” can thus be either a form of secret communication or something
inferred from non-verbal clues. Authors
and poets are sometimes tempted to use “semaphore” metaphorically to describe
emotional cues, especially across physical or emotional distance and one can
imagine the dubious attraction for some of having “her sensuous lips silently semaphoring
desire” or “her hungry eyes semaphored the truth”. Among critics, the notion of “semaphoring” as
one of the motifs of modernist literature was identified and TS Eliot’s
(1888–1965) style in The Waste Land
(1922) included coded fragments, often as disconnected voices and
symbols, called by some an “emotional semaphore” while Samuel Beckett (1906-1989
and another Nobel laureate) was noted for having his characters exchange their feelings
with repetitive gestures, signals and critically, silences, described
variously as “gestural semaphore” or the “semaphoring of despair”.
