Meaning and history of symbols

[zuben el genub]

What Do These Common Symbols Mean?

If it shows up on a recorder or a pc, I know what some are. I didn't recognize the Apple ones as I don't use one. I don't know or use some of the windows ones that require special keys as I prefer my IBM clicker keyboards.

The history of the symbols was interesting.

 

[mikedt]

I've known some of them for a very long time, like the triangle pointing right for "play", which basically tells you the direction the tape goes on a reel-to-reel or cassette deck. There are double triangles for fast-forward and rewind, again pointing the direction of tape travel, "stop" is a solid square and "record" is a solid circle. These are still used in modern media players. Recognisable symbols like this get around any international language barriers. We've got some vintage Chinese reel-to-reel tape decks and audio systems in the school museum, the instructions are all in Chinese of course, no English. But the main controls are very easy to work out.
They've also got these symbols as well

the bass and treble clef from sheet music. Which means bass and treble controls. I've also seen on many audio systems. Controls on TV sets have agreed symbols as well, like brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, etc.

Here's another symbol you find on Mac keyboards but not on standard PC keyboards AFAIK.

PC keyboards have "alt" but not the symbol. My Macbook doesn't have the Apple logo, it's got "cmd" instead for command.

 

[Dngrsone]

I remember when most keyboards had a Return key rather than Enter; and the Enter key on my laptop keyboard still retains the Return symbol.

For you young'uns, the Return key is a carryover from the mechanical typewriter, which required one to use a lever to move the platen (the roller which held the paper in place) to the beginning of the next line.

In electrical typewriters, the Return key was used to accomplish this, and these were the prototypes for the teletype interface used with mainframe computers back before the desktop computer was little more than a science-fictional construct.

 

[alostpacket]

I still have a hard time understanding a Mac "alt" symbol and my daily work computer has been a mac for years.

Funny thing is, a lot of icons/symbols we still use use are going to make less and less sense as they are based on analog outdated or nonexistent things. (Or they're soon to be)


Some examples:

(there are tons more)


I remember someone on the radio recently describing some product his business made as about the size of a phone booth.

All I could think was...."when the heck was the last time I even saw a phone booth?"

 

[mikedt]

We "dial" phone numbers. But when was the last time anyone used or saw a rotary dial telephone? We might "place" a phone call. That comes before the days of directly dialled phone calls, you spoke to the operator and said, hello I'd like to place a call please. There's "off the hook" and "hang up". Sure those come from the days when telephones were big wooden things fixed to the wall, and they did have hook that you hung the receiver on.

Here's a fairly contemporary one.

Cellphones don't really look like that these days, but you know what it means, or should do.

 

[mikedt]

Airline safety cards are full of symbols, that we have to recognise and know what they mean. Because not everyone reads English or whatever.

The Qantas safety card always sticks in my mind.

No radios, no cellphones, no walkie talkies, no Furbys, allowed to be on during a flight. Remember seeing it on a flight from London to Hong Kong, and wondered what have Qantas got against Furbys. They have no radios in them. AFAIK no other airline specifically bans them.

 

[Dngrsone]

Airline safety cards are full of symbols, that we have to recognise and know what they mean. Because not everyone reads English or whatever.

The Qantas safety card always sticks in my mind.

No radios, no cellphones, no walkie talkies, no Furbys, allowed to be on during a flight. Remember seeing it on a flight from London to Hong Kong, and wondered what have Qantas got against Furbys. They have no radios in them. AFAIK no other airline specifically bans them.

For moment, there, I thought that was a microwave. I'm thinking, 'do people actually bring their microwaves on board an airplane?' Then I realized it was a radio.

 

[SiempreTuna]

If you think symbols from maybe 20 years ago might be tough for youngsters to understand, think of the problem they had designing the signs for nuclear waste dumps - signs that have to meaningful to people - or whatever replaces people - in hundreds of thousands of years time

Whenever people talk about signage, I always find myself thinking about that rather tough problem. It took us decades to begin to understand signs - e.g. Egyptian hieroglyphics - from but 3,000 years ago. We still can't read Cretan Linear A from just 3,500 years ago or their hieroglyphs from around 4,000 years ago. And culturally, we're pretty much direct descendants of those people

 

[mikedt]

For moment, there, I thought that was a microwave. I'm thinking, 'do people actually bring their microwaves on board an airplane?' Then I realized it was a radio.

I didn't think microwave.. LOL...got that one as a radio straight away. Took me a while to work out what the little round item was, then realised it's a pager. It is Furbys that are specifically banned on Qantas, rather than electronic soft toys in general. Hand-held electronic games are allowed.

Apparently the reason Furbys are banned is because you can't turn them off, they have no on-off switch, you have to remove the batteries. And to remove the batteries on a Furby you need a screwdriver, because it's a toy suitable for toddlers. You can't take screwdrivers in your carry-on. Although why only Qantas AFAIK, I don't know.

 

[mikedt]

If you think symbols from maybe 20 years ago might be tough for youngsters to understand, think of the problem they had designing the signs for nuclear waste dumps - signs that have to meaningful to people - or whatever replaces people - in hundreds of thousands of years time

Whenever people talk about signage, I always find myself thinking about that rather tough problem. It took us decades to begin to understand signs - e.g. Egyptian hieroglyphics - from but 3,000 years ago. We still can't read Cretan Linear A from just 3,500 years ago or their hieroglyphs from around 4,000 years ago. And culturally, we're pretty much direct descendants of those people

Some of the items on that Qantas card I posted look rather dated now, and might not be recognisable to a younger generation. Looks like there's an original Gameboy and a portable CD player. I think the Furby was introduced in 1998, and are still being made. I've seen other airline safety cards and they illustrate an iPod and a PSP. 1980s safety cards would probably have illustrated a cassette Walkman, and likely no mention of cellphones or laptops. They'll have to illustrate tablets these days.

They're having to revise the safety cards again, because recently many airlines and countries now allow electronics to be used during taxi, take-off and landing.

About nuclear waste dumps and the long term. The nuke and radiation symbol..

Has not actually changed since it was introduced in 1946, and is probably not likely to in the foreseeable future.

This one has been around for hundreds of years...

It really tells you something is not good, likely dangerous and is best avoided. Whether it be pirates at sea or that something is toxic.

Egyptian hieroglyphics is their written language. We might not understand it. Chinese can be like that, and often the symbols do resemble what they mean. e.g. 人 "ren" which means person or human being, it kind of looks like one. 中 "zhong" which means middle or centre, the vertical stroke is though the centre. However the meaning often changes when used with another symbol, 中国 "zhonggou" which literally means "middle country" although it actually means China.

BTW although not a pictogram language like Chinese or Egyptian hieroglyphics. Can anyone on AF tell me what this means and what language it is?

I do see a lot of it as well, and know many people who read and write it.

 

[alostpacket]

No Furbys?! Sheesh. Looks like I'm never flying Qantas!

 

[alostpacket]

BTW although not a pictogram language like Chinese or Egyptian hieroglyphics. Can anyone on AF tell me what this means and what language it is?

I do see a lot of it as well, and know many people who read and write it.

Vote Cthulhu?

Spoiler

/seriously though im guessing something Tibetan?

 

[alostpacket]

Ooh I was close, I cheated an know the answer now. (Google Goggles ftw)

 

[SiempreTuna]

About nuclear waste dumps and the long term. The nuke and radiation symbol..

Has not actually changed since it was introduced in 1946, and is probably not likely to in the foreseeable future

I would bet that there are plenty of people around now who have no idea what it means

 

[mikedt]

I would bet that there are plenty of people around now who have no idea what it means

I know they use the trefoil symbol in movies enough times...Robocop 2

Usually to convey that something is going to be bad, and in this case could give clue as to how the baddy robot is powered. Even the drug was called "Nuke". And the hatch with the big "X" was where the cyborg robot consumed the drug, ...X marks the spot....yet another symbol.

 

[mikedt]

Vote Cthulhu?

Spoiler

/seriously though im guessing something Tibetan?

Close-ish... It's Mongolian. Think one of the very few languages that's written and read vertically, top to bottom. I see it everywhere because all public signage must be bi-lingual in Inner Mongolia, Chinese and Mongolian. And the only web browser I know that supports it properly is Internet Explorer, and not Firefox or Google Chrome.

Plus I'm in a Mongolian school, so many of the textbooks are in Mongolian rather than Chinese. In the Republic of Mongolia, although they speak the same language uses Cyrillic rather than traditional Mongolian. A relic from the Soviet era.

 

[mikedt]

Ooh I was close, I cheated an know the answer now. (Google Goggles ftw)

Yeh..Goggles is great. :thumbup: Although I don't think it can actually read it(OCR), probably recognised it as an image from Wikipedia.