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Comment by Biganon | Hacker News Reader

Secret codes being used in recommandation letters are an urban legend. HR people have no incentive to create a secret code for them and their potential rivals, let alone teach it to new HR people while also keeping it secret.

This legend comes from the fact that HR people cannot be too explicit about the fact that you've been a pain in the ass (you could probably sue if it's too transparent), so if they have nothing positive to say they will commend your punctuality or something equally as mundane. It's not secret codes, it's like... "bless their heart", but in HR talk. Plausible deniability if you want to sue, I guess. "But it's a good thing, your honor! They were always on time!"

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As other commenters said, what you describe could actually be considered a secret code.

But in the specific german case, the code is not even that secret. This is a formal document with a very specific structure, and very standardized phrases. There is even specific software to generate the text out of performance ratings. Basically something like this:

- John was overal engaged: he is a lazy bastard

- John was engaged: he is OK

- john was very engaged: he is good

- john was always very and thoroughly engaged: he is very good

So.. secret codes are a myth, and here are some examples of secret codes?

"Damning with faint praise" is hardly a secret code.

Please refrain from willingly picking the naive interpretation when you've understood my point perfectly fine, it's against the rules of this website.

...sigh:

Secret codes as in "watermark-level omission of characters" are a myth. Lingo and jargon do however exist, and convey meaning in a particularly subtle way. They are shared and taught by culture, not by a secret handbook passed down from generation to generation. See also dogwhistling.

The goal is to protect the issuer, not to selflessly inform the recipient.

This reminds me of the joke whose punch line is

> You will be lucky to have this person work for you.

"I cannot recommend X too highly. X always served as an example to their colleagues. The quality of X's code was unequalled in our department, and X's work always merited special attention." (etc)

> I cannot recommend X too highly

This isn't a veiled statement. It's outright dunking on the applicant.

It can be interpreted both ways: "I cannot recommend X too highly (because they suck)" vs "I cannot recommend X too highly (because whatever praise I give will be inadequate)"

If praise is the intent, it would be phrased as "... cannot recommend X highly enough"

I disagree.

Not every opinion is equally valid

My take away from this is that any positive thing written in a letter of recommendation can be read as sarcasm by an English speaker.

I think there's some deeper issue with the language/culture here.

Every language has turns of phrase that are not necessarily intuitive to non-native speakers.

I think the line is

> you would be lucky to get this employee to work for you!

May HR personnel live in interesting times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics)

"In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language..."

You skipped over the fact that "bless their heart" itself is (or at least used to be, before it became too well-known to really be a “secret” any more) precisely such a secret code. (Like, probably, most “HR talk”.)

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