History Main / SafeWord

No sexual or sexualized Real Life Examples Please. Non-sexual examples are okay.

* ''Film/{{Eurotrip}}'' features a combination of confusion and hard to remember when Cooper unknowingly goes into a BDSM club, Vandersexxx. The safe word in question? "Flüggåɘnk∂€čhiœßøl∫ên." Yes, thats the Euro symbol, a partial derivative sign (∂), ''and'' an integration sign in there.
** When Cooper finally thinks he's gotten it right and says "Yes, for the love of God, Flugenkempfheimler," it turns out the Flugenkempfheimler is a particularly bizarre NoodleImplement. With a laser sight and feather.

* Invoked in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': the phrase that puts [[AxCrazy River]] to sleep ("Eto kuram na smekh!") is referred to as one of these. Strangely, it's a popular Russian idiom that wouldn't make for a good code phrase in RealLife (it literally translates to "it's for chickens to laugh at" and means "it's ridiculous"). There must be no Russian speakers at all in this system.

* In ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'', Wade, as he's being strapped to an examination table in Ajax's laboratory, suggests "Pork N Beans" as a safe word.

* In ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'', our hero has a safe word when playing with the terrorists, so that his friends will know when to pull him out. [[spoiler:Because of the kind of movie this is, of course it doesn't work!]]
** Even better, it's less a safe word and more a "Safe Wild-Waving-Thrashing Gesture." [[spoiler:Which makes it even more hilarious when it doesn't work, despite the sign being really, incredibly obvious.]]

** There is a non-sexual version in "Large Marge", where [[ContinuityNod Bart's old elephant Stampy]] will flop on his side and become docile when he hears the word "Mugumbo". He uses this as part of a plan to restore Krusty's reputation, but he forgets the word at the key moment and doesn't remember it until [[ItMakesSenseInContext Marge flashes her surgically-enhanced breasts at a trade show audience]], causing him to cry out "Check out those mugumbos!"
** In a parody of ''Film/ParanormalActivity'', Homer has to accept the deal with a demon: in exchange for not taking Maggie away, he must get into a threesome with him and another demon, with the safeword being "cinnamon". Later, when Homer covers the camera and expresses his desire of trying something new, we hear the demon screaming [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth "Cinnamon! Cinnamon!"]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TucaAndBertie'': Speckle and Bertie practice light BDSM, and Speckle chooses "hot potato" as a safe word before changing it to "warm potato." When spanking and degrading Bertie causes her to cry, Speckle quickly quits the roleplay by shouting "Warm potato!" repeatedly.

* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', Castle has the safe word "apples", used in two episodes so far - in fact, he mentions it the very first time that Beckett handcuffs him i.e. the pilot, demonstrating his ChivalrousPervert side. There are also hints that Beckett has a dominant streak.

* In ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs'', Manny and Ellie choose "Peaches" as the code word for if Ellie goes into labor while they're down in the world of the dinosaurs (which she does, though she and the baby are ultimately safe). Notably, Ellie forgets it at first and starts shouting out random fruits until she finally lands on the right one. They end up naming their baby (who turns out to be a girl) "Peaches," so it turns into a MeaningfulName.

* Early on in the American ''Series/QueerAsFolk'', Michael gets drawn into a night out at a sports bar with the female coworker who's crushing on him (and whom he's letting crush on him as a cover at work) and another, very straight/homophobic coworker and her husband. He and Brian joke beforehand about having a safe word ("buttplug") for when the night gets to be intolerable. Crammed into a booth with a beard he likes and loud homophobes he doesn't, trying to pretend to be straight, Michael is so miserable he ends up muttering "buttplug" to himself within minutes of his arrival, and on taking a call from Brian (turning around in the booth and leaning out the back of it, which apparently allows him not to be heard) immediately starts with, "BUTTPLUG BUTTPLUG BUTTPLUG!"

* In the third ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' film, ''[[WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs Dawn of the Dinosaurs]]'', Manny and Ellie choose "Peaches" as the code word for if Ellie goes into labor while they're down in the world of the dinosaurs (which she does, though she and the baby are ultimately safe). Notably, Ellie forgets it at first and starts shouting out random fruits until she finally lands on the right one. They end up naming their baby (who turns out to be a girl) "Peaches," so it turns into a MeaningfulName.

* In the ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' adaptation of ''Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan'', the Shamoshans (the tiny aliens forced to build "New Planet Vegeta") were recast as extreme masochists who went along with Paragus' plans because they enjoy being dominated by stronger beings. They even come to watch the heroes fight Broly because of how violent it's going to be -- however, [[EveryoneHasStandards even they have standards]], and when Broly says he's going to [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up the planet]] they hurriedly try to recall their safeword. It turns out to be "[[PunnyName broccoli]]", which the elder Shamoshan tearfully laments was "lost to time".

* Creator/DickKingSmith's novel ''Martin's Mice'' features a variation. The theme of the novel is that the titular Martin is a cat who keeps a family of mice as pets, with his first pet being the pregnant mouse Drusilla. Drusilla is released while pregnant with her second family of children, but Martin and his father Pug agree to treat them as friends rather than pets in future. While Pug does not share his son's distaste for eating mice as a whole, he provides all of Drusilla's children with the password "Martin's Mice" so that he won't eat any of them by accident.

* ''Series/ImportantThingsWithDemetriMartin'' had a series of skits about a BSDM couple that had chosen unfortunate safewords, one of which was "the correct pronunciation of Gnocchi." In the second skit the Safe Word was "Bill Paxton," only the Sub couldn't remember his name ("AGH! That...that guy! He was in that movie! AGH!"). The last sketch of the episode features them looking up 'gnocchi' in the dictionary and arguing about it.

* CreatorDickKingSmith's novel ''Martin's Mice'' features a variation. The theme of the novel is that the titular Martin is a cat who keeps a family of mice as pets, with his first pet being the pregnant mouse Drusilla. Drusilla is released while pregnant with her second family of children, but Martin and his father Pug agree to treat them as friends rather than pets in future. While Pug does not share his son's distaste for eating mice as a whole, he provides all of Drusilla's children with the password "Martin's Mice" so that he won't eat any of them by accident.

* Orias from ''Cute Demon Crashers'' has "red", as he specializes in in BDSM. To reflect the game's emphasis on consent, the STOP button used to end the h-scenes is replaced with a button that reads RED instead.

* '''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'' has a StopPokingMe quote where a [[SenseFreak Slaneeshi demon]] says "They will ''never'' know the safe word!" with all the cackling and pride of an evil mastermind (though given what Slaneeshi pleasure involves, this is actually rather unnerving).

* In the ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'' strip "Weathercock", a group of
city guards are attempting to stop [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a rampaging dominatrix]] by reading the dictionary at her until they find her safeword. The answer, presumably, is "weathercock".

Of course, any word can be used as a safe word. And the concept is not limited to sexual situations either. Commonly used by undercover operatives of all kinds while wearing a wire or being in a bugged room, people engaged in a combat sport, and people engaged in a setting where [[AllPartOfTheShow reality and fiction could easily be mixed up]]. (See CovertDistressCode.)

* ProWrestling has their own version of a safe word whenever an incident (such as a legit injury) occurs that requires intervention from either medical personnel or backstage agents/management. A referee will typically form an "X" with their arms (sometimes raised over their head) to signal to the back that something is wrong and that the match can no longer proceed as planned.