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Wonderlukah Secret Code

Wonderlukah’s Secret Code

In 5th grade, I invented a secret code so that no one would ever be able to read my diary.

It was made up of symbols. The J was a tree, because that’s my initial, and I like trees. The M was a smiley face because the cutest boy in school’s name started with an M. The Q was a question mark, a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor because the translation was so obvious I was certain people would never think of it.

Wonderlukah Secret Code

Please note, my favorite rubber stamp that made a “ribbit” sound when pressed.

After 45 minutes of toiling away at my first coded entry, I realized encrypting my diary took so long that it made me lose my train of thought. This prevented me from enjoying the actual point of journaling.

Instead, I decided to share the code with my closest friends so it wouldn’t go to waste. I painstakingly handprinted 6 copies of the key using my fancy, special occassion fluorescent index cards and laminated them so they’d survive for all eternity.

We had so much fun with this, fearlessly passing notes in class because no one understood them. We felt crafty and untouchable.

There was even a brief love story…

Secret Code Love Story

This code is another of my favorite memories growing up. Oh, and if you’re feeling adventurous and up to the challenge…

Encrypted Giveaway

Hahaha! Thanks for reading,
Malu

Code Key

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34 Comments

  • Reply Petr - Rhinosek

    ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ˜€ <3

    August 13, 2018 at 7:00 am
  • Reply David

    I love secret codes! I made one when I was 12, but wasn’t nearly as organised as you were! ๐Ÿ˜€

    August 13, 2018 at 7:28 am
    • Reply malukah

      Hehe! It still counts. ๐Ÿ˜€ Glad you made a code, too!

      August 15, 2018 at 2:44 am
  • Reply BoBandy

    Do the messages come out in English or Spanish?

    August 13, 2018 at 8:07 am
    • Reply malukah

      haha! They were usually written in English. It did have the “รฑ” character for Spanish, but English tends to be simpler. Shorter words. ๐Ÿ˜€

      August 14, 2018 at 2:28 am
  • Reply BoBandy

    ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 13, 2018 at 8:29 am
  • Reply darthpaul

    ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 13, 2018 at 11:50 am
  • Reply CosmoDings/June Marie

    I did that too! I created one with my own alphabet, and then I also used the Norwegian runes (from the Futhark). I wonder if I still have any of those notes. It would be fun to see.

    Thank you for the challenge ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 13, 2018 at 12:02 pm
    • Reply malukah

      I am sure that if I knew what runes were at that age, I would have tried to make a language with them! ๐Ÿ˜€ It’s so cool you did this as a kid, too!!!

      August 14, 2018 at 2:27 am
  • Reply Sardai

    โŠโง–โค – ๐Ÿ™‚H+ร—<HโŠ – โฆšโง–แ‘€เณฉโง–โƒ – แ‘€|โ˜ฎโง–โฆš – Hเณฉโง– – โงŠร—โ›’ – โƒ| – โ˜ฎโง–แ‘€๐ŸžโœโŠโง–เณฉ ๐Ÿ˜€

    August 13, 2018 at 1:47 pm
    • Reply malukah

      This is amazing I can’t believe you were able to do the converter so quickly! Sardai PhD!

      August 14, 2018 at 2:25 am
  • Reply Sober Elk

    This reminds me of the dancing men (Sherlock Holmes story). I guess most kids develop secret languages or codes sometimes. ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 13, 2018 at 3:00 pm
    • Reply malukah

      I just googled this story! I want to read it!

      August 14, 2018 at 2:25 am
  • Reply Travis

    That was fun! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Now we need a wonderlukah font that does it automagically…

    August 13, 2018 at 3:29 pm
    • Reply malukah

      This is happening. I’ll be sharing a font soon. hahahaha! And Sardai actually made a converter! Check this out: https://sardai.com/malucode

      August 14, 2018 at 2:16 am
      • Reply Travis Cook

        Twitch chat is about to get very very exciting!!

        August 14, 2018 at 2:33 am
        • Reply Cromarty

          โ—ปโ›’โ˜ฎโง–โง–โ˜ฎ – โ˜บH+ร—โœโŠโ˜ฎ ๐Ÿ™‚

          August 14, 2018 at 6:38 am
          • Travis

            โƒโŠ|เณฉ – แ‘€+Hโœโฆš – โง–โœฑโง–เณฉโค๐†ฑโŠโง–เณฉโง–

            August 14, 2018 at 7:21 am
  • Reply Cromarty

    When I was around 12 I used dwarven runes from JRRT’s Hobbit ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 13, 2018 at 10:20 pm
    • Reply malukah

      Ooooh, I bet this was awesome! More epic-looking than my trees and smiley faces. hahaha!

      August 14, 2018 at 2:15 am
  • Reply Brynela

    Your cipher is a lot more creative than anything i made ๐Ÿ˜€
    and i see your love for office supplies sprouted early <3

    August 14, 2018 at 1:15 am
    • Reply malukah

      Yep, the office supply love was born with me. hahaha! ๐Ÿ˜€

      August 14, 2018 at 2:14 am
  • Reply Ansem

    A shame I haven’t got the capability to write this in code! What an amazing thing you have done! We now have a secret code we could use to make super secret, Reverb Empire – only schemes and machinations no one else will ever be able to comprehend! I love how this blog has become the new “Historias de la tรฌa Malukah” , now that the podcast is gone! ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 14, 2018 at 10:05 am
  • Reply VoradorPT

    You were much more creative in 5th grade than I ever was/am/will. Did a teacher ever caught one of those messages and made you decrypt it? ๐Ÿ˜€ Also, ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 14, 2018 at 2:14 pm
    • Reply malukah

      Haha! I’m sure you were/are creative, too. I don’t think we were ever caught… I don’t remember a time when we had to translate or reveal the code. ๐Ÿ™‚

      August 15, 2018 at 2:46 am
  • Reply Flying Pig Games

    ๐†ฑHโ—ปโƒ – ๐†ฑโง– – แ‘€Hโ›’ – โœ|โฆšโƒ – แ‘€|๐Ÿ™‚๐Ÿ™‚โง–โ›’โƒโฆš – โŠโง–เณฉโง– – โ›’โง–โœฑโง–เณฉ – <โ›’โง–๐†ฑ – โƒโŠHโƒ Don't know how many can read this, hopefully not to many so no-one sees my derp ๐Ÿ˜› Great to see I wasn't the only one obsessed with secret codes and stuff. Did you ever want to become a spy Malu? Or do any other spy type things? With an old friend we used to have great fun trying to be super sneaky and spy on our parents, at the time we didn't realise they were well aware and were staging everything lol. Anyways, great read as always ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 14, 2018 at 5:20 pm
    • Reply malukah

      Hahaha! I was able to read part of this. There are some squares there that I think may have been other letters? hehe! Mr. Pig, I was obsessed with Inspector Gadget and spy stuff. There was a movie I watched as a kid called “Mini Spies” that was about a group of kids who as a group broke into a facility to rescue dogs. They had all sorts of gadgets. I loooved that. hahaha! ๐Ÿ˜€ And it was sweet of your parents to play along. hahaha! ๐Ÿ˜€

      August 15, 2018 at 2:42 am
  • Reply TheAlb

    I did something similar a bit, however nowhere as sophisticated (e.g. laminated code cards) or as “widespread”. I think I only did a few things for myself and than gave up on it as it wasn’t very useful just for me. ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 14, 2018 at 7:33 pm
    • Reply malukah

      Glad you got to live through this, too, even if in a more personal scale. hehe! I’ve yet to find another kid who was so passionate about laminators and index cards as I was/am. hahahaha! ๐Ÿ˜€ Thanks for reading TheAlb.

      August 15, 2018 at 2:44 am
  • Reply BlackTecc

    This code is much fun. Now I can almost read it fluently ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 18, 2018 at 5:47 pm
  • Reply Adrian

    Love the secret code, was fun deciphering the message. A bit practice and I could get used to this new written code!
    ๐Ÿ™‚

    August 20, 2018 at 3:00 pm
    • Reply malukah

      Haha! It’s awesome you had fun with this! Thank you so much for reading, Adrian!

      September 9, 2018 at 4:59 pm

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