I saw the new David Mamet movie, Spartan, Sunday (March 14, 2004) at the Bridge with some friends. At one point in the film, Val Kilmer asks some man how it's going and the man replies "five by five."

As far as I know, the term "five by five" was originated on the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was something Faith (Eliza Dushku) would say. When asked how she was doing, she'd say "five by five," meaning good or great or fine.

So, it seemed strange to me that Mamet would start quoting Buffy the Vampire Slayer in his screenplays.

Then I realized that his ex-wife, Lindsay Crouse had a recurring role on Buffy in it's fourth season (1999-2000). She was in about ten episodes. But Mamet and Crouse divorced in 1982.

Also, there was a bit of dialogue from the episode, "Revelations," of Buffy:

Gwendolyn Post: Faith, do you know who the Spartans were?
Faith: Wild stab: a bunch of guys from Spart?
Gwendolyn: They were the fiercest warriors known to Ancient Greece. And they lived in quarters very much like these. Do you know why? Because a true fighter needs nothing else. I'm going to be very hard on you, Faith. I will not brook insolence or laziness. And I will not allow blunders like last night's attack. You will probably hate me a great deal of the time.
Faith: You think?

Later Faith, not quite getting what "spartan" means, has this exchange with Buffy -- which also contains the "five by five" phrase:

Buffy: The place looks nice.
Faith: Yeah, it's real Spartan.
Buffy: How are you?
Faith: Five-by-five.
Buffy: I'll interpret that as good. Look, Gwendolyn Post, or whoever she may be, had us all fooled. Even Giles.
Faith: Yeah, well, you can't trust people. I should've learned that by now.
Buffy: I realize this is gonna sound funny coming from someone that just spent a lot of time kicking your face... but you can trust me.
Faith: Is that right?
Buffy: I know I kept secrets, but I didn't have a choice. I'm on your side.
Faith: I'm on my side, and that's enough.

Then I received emails:

From a reader named Jane:

By the way, 'five by five'Ýdidn't originate on Buffers. It'sÝradio broadcasting lingo.

My reply:

Really?Ý What do you mean?Ý Where did you hear this?

Jane:

Here's what urbandictionary.com has listed:

1. Term meaning everything is OK. The term comes from old radio slang. When communicating over radio, the operator would report the strength and clarity of the signal on a scale of 1 to 5 each. Therefore, if a radio operator described the signal as "five by five" it meant it was both loud and clear.
2. What Faith says, because she's cool.
3. Loud and clear. From military terminology. Old radios had two readings. Loudness and clarity rated from 0-5. Thus five by five means literally loud and clear.
4. Everything's cool. Derived from radio terminology.

I obviously have nothing to do this morning!

From a reader named Eric:

5X5 is a universal radio code for "Everything is Fine" or something like that. When I was a "yout" bellhop, we used that code all the time on the walkie talkies. I am also a HUGE Buffy/Angel/Whedon fan, and it always tickled me that nobody else had ever heard that term before it was uttered by faith.

Thanks to all those who wrote in to help us pinpoint the origins of this term...