Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with symbols

Visual symbols that represent the American war of Independence

paduasoy — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:31:58 -0800

I need some visual symbols representative of the American War of Independence; can anyone give me some ideas? Signed Woefully Ignorant, UK.

(posted for a friend)

Examples of fire and water/ice as religious symbols?

CitrusFreak12 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:59:46 -0800

I’m looking for examples of fire, water, and/or ice being used as religious symbols or in religious practice in some way shape or form. Help? I’m not looking for one religion that uses all three, per se, just any example of any of the three being used. They can be historical or current, either will do.

I’d prefer to know the basic details (who uses the symbol, in what religion, what does is symbolize, when is it used, why is it used, how it came to be used, where, etc), but if you don’t know them that’s ok, as long as I have enough information to use to find more.

I’d appreciate any and all details and information you can offer. If you know of any resources that may be helpful, by all means let me know (preferably books and preferably those that aren’t too obscure or hard to find and are likely to be at a public or academic library).

I was interested in the comparisons between fire and ice as religious symbols. Thus far I've only been able to find one example of ice being used as such, so I suppose it isn’t as widespread as I thought. So I moved onto the next best thing: Water, which is probably a lot more popular as a religious symbol (it’s pretty much everywhere people are). And since both are rather important to survival, I think it'd be interesting to see which one has more widespread use in religious contexts.

Thanks!

, 1? 1, ?

Shepherd — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:30:22 -0800

Mixed footnotes: do numbered notes precede symbol notes, or vice versa? I often work with documents where the client is using symbol-footnotes (asterisk, dagger, etc.) for "explanatory" notes, and numbered notes as "reference" notes (authors and publications).

Nowhere can I find any reliable guide as to which should come first at the bottom of the page. Instinct is to put symbols before numbers, out of the vague sense that the bibliography is always the very last thing in a book, but that's hardly justifiable logic when questioned on it.

Any authoritative reference on this, language-folks? Or hats?

Need a definite answer for approximately equal

font_snob — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:14:16 -0800

Here's the deal: I've exhausted my neurons looking for some kind of answer to a mathematical symbol stumper. I'd love to know who invented, originated, or was the first individual to use the double-tilde (≈) as a means of expressing/denoting "approximately equal" in mathematics. I know that Robert-Recorde is supposed to have introduced the "equals" sign (=) in 1557. Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated. I await enlightenment.

What plants could symbolize the names Evan and Nathaniel?

Shoeburyness — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:46:09 -0800

I want to do something (maybe embroidery, maybe a tattoo, maybe plant a garden) with plants that symbolize my three children. My youngest is named Rosemary, so that's quite easy, but I am having a harder time coming up with plants that would symbolize the names Evan and Nathaniel. I've googled and had no luck. I'm looking for something that contains the names, or something recognizably similar to them in the common or botanical name, or maybe a plant that is somehow associated with those names, or... anything you can think of. And the plants probably shouldn't look odd with a Rosemary plant next to it.

Why is there a | in $?

jepler — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:31:34 -0800

Why do so many currency symbols contain a vertical or horizontal slash? Half or more of the circulating currencies listed on wikipedia have a slash in them, including dollar (and cent), euro and yen. Is this a real convention or just coincidence? When and why did the convention arise?

§

strangelove — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:06:02 -0800

What is this character: §. And what is it's use? I believe it signifies in the context of RSS feeds that a message only contains text in the subject line. A confirmation would be great and reference to a table of similar characters and their use would be great as well.
Thank you

Tourist dingbats

signal — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:21:33 -0800

Where can I find tourist-guidey symbols? As a sort of follow up to this, I need to get my hands on a lot of the little symbols (dingbats?) you see in guidebooks, used to indicate e.g. camping (a little tent), skiing (a skier) or a waterfall (wavy vertical lines).

I'm only interested in the kind you'd see in a tourist-oriented guidebook, not general mapping symbols.

A font (or fonts) would be more useful than individual symbols, as this will be inline with text.

Free is nice, as I have no budget for this.

Why do I always dream about stairwells and elevators?

coizero — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:06:41 -0800

Whenever I dream, stairwells, elevators, and large buildings with multiple levels always figure prominently. There'd be nothing strange about this except a) my daily life does not involve stairwells, large buildings, or elevators in any way, and b) they're in absolutely every dream I have -- no exceptions. This has been going on for at least a year, possibly longer. What could be possibly be causing this?

Do you know what the symbols in this crypt mean?

lorbus — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:28:27 -0800

In the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan lies a crypt of the Galimberti family. Cuboid in shape, it bears numerous engravings which appear scientific in nature. I can make out what appears to be smashing particles, parabolas, lenses, and spirals. Is there a hidden meaning to all of this? A message? Code? Here are some photos: Full, Front, Door Detail, Left, Right, and Back.

If you need bigger images just let me know.
Thanks.

Gentle-Pac-man burps up a dove

pjenks — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:58:17 -0800

Does this graffiti art image have some well-known meaning? I took the picture on the shoreline in Estoril/Cascais (outside Lisbon, Portugal) and I've seen the image stenciled on a few other structures in town. I like it, but I wonder if it has some sinister associations...

Typing special characters

JamesJD — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:09:14 -0800

I've installed Mac OS Leopard. I want to write some characters from symbolic logic. Where is character palette in word? Alternately, where online can I find the symbolic characters. So, I want to write an "upside-down A" and a "backwards E" for a philosophy paper that uses some logical symbols. I installed Leopard and now the Character palette does not show up in the "edit" or "input" menus. Where can I find said palette. Failing that, are there any websites with these symbols?

—Thanks!

Wolves at the Door

ZenMasterThis — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:59:26 -0800

Wolf imagery and depression. References? Pretty sure I read or heard a discussion by a woman (?) a few months back about wolves (at the door?) as a symbol for depression, but I can't find it anywhere. Am I imagining this, or did I really read / hear it somewhere? (I'm aware of the REM tune "Wolves, Lower", but that's not what I'm looking for) Thanks!

looking for a sign

jak68 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:48:16 -0800

Is there a symbol for the phrase "and/or"? LIke a logical symbol or any other commonly accepted symbol. For example, "or" is often represented by "/", and "and" by "+". Is there a single symbol for "and/or"? (I dont want to just say "/+", i'm looking for a single symbol even if its an obscure one requiring a character code).
Example of and/or: As in, "You can use the this hammer and/or that hammer".

Did they have copyright in 629?

thecjm — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:59:57 -0800

At the bottom of this list of available emblems of belief for veteran's headstones two symbols, the christian scientist cross and crown and the muslim five pointed star, are said to be not shown due to copyright. What's up with that? I can see the christian scientists, being new-ish, perhaps having a copyright on their symbols. But the muslim star copyrighted?

Also, how does copyright let you put a symbol on a tombstone, talk about that symbol on a tombstone, but not show on your website about symbols for tombstones that particular symbol on a tombstone?

And if anyone wants to discuss the various interesting/esoteric faiths listed at the above link, I don't mind the slight hijack. I was surprised to see the moravian lamb listed, due to my personal connection.

Symbols for night?

Roman Graves — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:16:57 -0800

AncientSymbolsFilter: My google skills have failed me. I'm looking for a symbol representing night or darkness. Preferably from Antiquity or Celtic societies. Help?

What is this symbol?

TheOtherGuy — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 01:44:08 -0800

Weird-Symbol-Filter: I have driven past this house every day to work for years and I am no closer to working out what this symbol hanging above the owner's gateway is. Help me Me-fites! Here is the symbol I am talking about. The house doesn't look like it has any sort of business running out of it, nor is there any other signage indicating what could be there. Is this symbol commonly known? Or is it just some lone guy's commentary on life, the universe, and everything.

Yes. The irony of the question mark is well noted...

ISO American Indian Clipart, logos, graphics...

Jujee — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 14:49:25 -0800

I have searched and searched online for American Indian art to no avail. More specifically - I'm looking for the kind of bold clip art (thick lines) or logo-type of art associated or signifying with each of the following: Shawnee, Lakotas, Iroquois, Ojibwe, Cahokia, Cherokee - animal art is fine as well. Are there any symbols of the same type of art that might relate to law or justice??. Am I looking for something that doesn't exist? Thanks in advance for any help!!!

Actually Covering Mythologies

Dante5Inferno — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:43:55 -0800

What is the meaning of the symbol(s) on the cover of Roland Barthes' Mythologies?

Books and Birds

bubukaba — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 13:26:39 -0800

Why are there so many book publishers that have birds in their names or their logos? Is there a historical explanation? Is there any explanation? The ones I thought of off the top of my head were Bantam, Penguin, Pelican, Puffin, and Signet (which might not be one, but it's a homophone of "cygnet").

I looked at various lists of publishers on Wikipedia and found three more, Osprey Publishing, Black Sparrow Books, and Catbird Press.

Then I looked at my bookshelf and noticed that Norton Critical Editions have a bird in their logo, and the NTC Publishing Group has a hawk (or something) in their logo.

I could be looking for an explaination where there isn't one, but I've been obsessed with this question for the past week.

Oxford English Trickionary

grumblebee — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 17:17:45 -0800

The online version of the OED (subscription required) uses an ASCII version of IPA, and I can't figure it out. I need to know how to pronounce the word "succous," which means "containing juice or sap." The OED says it is pronounced "sA.k[e]s." What does the upper-case "A" mean and why is it italicized? What is [e]?

Could someone (a) look "succous" up for me in the PRINT OED and (b) tell me where I can find a guide to the ASCII symbols used in the online OED, so when I run into this problem in the future, I don't have to post here.

Having done some online searches, it SEEMS like the OED uses a system called SAMPA to represent IPA symbols, but SAMPA guides (that I've found) don't contain [e] and they seem to give various meanings to A.

Irritatingly, the OED's own help is not helpful.

NOTE: I've referred to [e] here, but in the OED it's less-than-symbol, e, greater-than-symbol. I forget how to render less-than/greater-thans on AskMe (apersand codes don't work on preview. How does one achieve this?

the circle line

sammich — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 17:44:29 -0800

What is the origin of the universal power symbol? You know the one with the circle and the vertical line. There seem to be two variations of the symbol, one with the line inside the circle and, more common, the one with the line half way inside the top of the circle. It seems to me that it's either a symbol for 1 and 0 (binary for on and off) or more exoticly, some kind of phallic sexual representation of power.

I googled many pages and came close but empty. This article seems to talk about it but it's more about the modern standardization of the symbol rather than the origin. Then there's this page that says it is a Rikki symbol but it seems made up and other pages of Rikki symbol shows something way different.

What are these strange symbols?

rxrfrx — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 13:14:30 -0800

What are these symbols spraypainted on the sidewalk near Boston, MA? My photo might be upside-down or sidways. At first I thought the markings (which appeared some time in the last few weeks) might be an example of traditional hobo signs or some kind of warchalking but I can't find any of these symbols in online guides.

Name of Typical Film Graphics

signal — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 21:33:54 -0800

What's the name of the typical graphics people use to signify old-fashioned movie-film, like numbers counting down, cryptic symbols, squiggly marks, etc.? I am designing a film related site and would like to use these graphics, but not knowing what they're called, I have had no luck finding any. Links to actual images would be greatly appreciated, of course.

The Definitive Ten Symbols

Meatbomb — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 01:04:37 -0800

I've got a cool idea for a tattoo, which I may or may not actually get done. But I need your help. More inside. You know the classic "love / hate" tattoo, like the Blues Brothers had across their knuckles? I was thinking it would be mega cool and uber original to get little symbols, one on each knuckle, that more or less summed up the entire history of human thought and endeavor...

So what I need are the ten most important symbols / icons in human history, and they need to be basic and simple enough to fit on a knuckle, and be easily recognisable.

Here's what I've come up with: 1) Star of David, 2) Christian cross, 3) Muslim crescent, 4) Yin-yang, 5) Dollar sign, 6) five pointed star (not so sure about this one) 7) Hammer and sickle, 8) Swastika, 9) peace sign 10) no ideas...

Any help, comments, ideas, suggestions most welcome.