On the basis of a selection of letters from the Schlegel circle, this article examines the extent to which the codification of intimacy (love) studied by Luhmann can be transferred to other social relationships. The assumption here is that improbable communication, which according to Luhmann in the case of love should be helped to succeed by a symbolically generated communication medium, was a general problem for the early Romantics in particular. They responded to this problem by developing complex communicative strategies. This is particularly apparent in letters - as evidence of highly personal, but not necessarily intimate, communication. The rhetorical, stylistic, theoretical, and meta-linguistic features that are brought together and systematically differentiated in this essay show that a meta-discourse emerges in these letters that has the function of making communication thresholds visible. In this respect, the article suggests the existence of a code that, beyond the special case of love, also determines and regulates other highly personal relationships (friendship, kinship, etc.).