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About 35 minutes into the animated film, Umi raised these five flags:

![H-O-K-U-T](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HjJ3i.jpg)

Shun, who was invited to Miki Hokuto's farewell party, understood the meaning
of the signal flags: "H-O-K-U-T... Hokuto". What I don't understand is why
didn't Umi raise the sixth O flag to complete the word? Is there a rule or
taboo saying the sixth O flag can not be raised?


CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-22T14:50:45.663
48488
2023-08-05T04:06:12.487
8486
question
from-up-on-poppy-hill
Why did Umi only raise five flags "H-O-K-U-T" leaving out the O at the end?


According to the [Chinese
Wikipedia](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BE%86%E8%87%AA%E7%B4%85%E8%8A%B1%E5%9D%82#cite_ref-
Guide18_67-2), which cites page 18 of the [Visual
Guide](http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/From_Up_on_Poppy_Hill_Visual_Guide%7EYokohama_Love_Story%7E),
Umi didn't raise the sixth O flag because she only had one set of flags.
Normally, [substitutes](http://www.quadibloc.com/other/flaint.htm) can be used
to repeat the same signal flag one or more times in case only one set of flags
is carried on board:

> The Repeater/Substitute flags allow any combination of five letters to be
> hoisted with only a single set of flags: hence, 2R means a duplicate of
> whatever was signified by the second flag.

However, as customary of the International Code of Signals,

> The flags of the International Code of Signals, although they represent the
> alphabet, aren't normally used for English-language text. Instead, they are
> used either to give the call letters of a ship, which are allocated
> internationally by subdividing the alphabet in much the same way as is used
> for radio stations, and which are four or five letters long, or for
> indicating codewords in the International Code of Signals.

the intended message (HOKUTO) is one letter too long, so the last O was
omitted.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-22T14:50:45.663
48489
2023-08-05T04:06:12.487
2023-08-05T04:06:12.487
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answer