Acceptable or No?

[Flaming_Redhead]

That's true, and the problem with hypotheticals, the discussion has to be in generalities. So, in general, I assume safewords apply at all times.

You're absolutely right. We can presume all manner of things since there's not much information. I thought it would be interesting to suppose different things and see if people's opinions change. Obviously, yours didn't.

I guess one of the problems is that I view safewords as a communications tool that's valuable regardless of how well I think I know someone. It's not just about limits, it's about things going wrong.

That's a good point.

Well, the trust goes both ways -- that the safeword will be honored, but also that it won't be used frivolously. And that's something for the two to discuss after the safeword's been honored -- "I just painted my toenails and don't want to have to redo them", frivolous; "I just painted my toenails and it'll get on the new carpet", not so much.

Hmmm....I can't imagine using a safe word frivolously because that's akin to crying wolf, but then again, I've been known not to use mine out of sheer stubbornness.

Not to "get out of", but to halt/delay/discuss if there's some serious problem, yes.

The second part of your question goes to the caveat I added. Obviously if it's within the dominant's agreed discretion to ignore a type of safeword, then it's an acceptable scenario.

Really? I've never used a safe word during punishment. In fact, the thought never even crossed my mind. That's not to say I don't protest, whine, beg, plead, or try to squirm away. If it works, fine. If it doesn't....even better! *ggls*

I think the majority of people use the traffic light signal to denote varying degrees of "stop" with "yellow" usually meaning "slow down, proceed with caution" and not necessarily "STOP," so I can see where ignoring it might be acceptable.