What's an adequate symbol?

October 30, 2013 3:40 PM

For Halloween this time, my wife, kids, and I will don our alter-egos as made-up superheroes and villains. I will be the acceptably nefarious Dr. Adequate. What would be a good symbol to put on my shirt? I thought maybe an equal sign or a standard distribution curve. Any other ideas? Is there a simple symbol of pictogram that screams "Adequacy" to you? Thanks!
posted by Shohn to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (42 answers total)

{ MEH. }
posted by Mchelly at 3:41 PM on October 30, 2013 [7 favorites]

"Have a Day".
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:43 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Maybe a checkbox?
posted by Sequence at 3:43 PM on October 30, 2013 [7 favorites]

"OK" in a circle?
posted by harkin banks at 3:45 PM on October 30, 2013 [7 favorites]

C-
posted by jferg at 3:47 PM on October 30, 2013 [4 favorites]

A stick figure shrugging?
posted by Z. Aurelius Fraught at 3:47 PM on October 30, 2013 [5 favorites]

:|
posted by Mchelly at 3:50 PM on October 30, 2013 [5 favorites]

The "meh" symbol from the NYT "The Meh List"?
posted by janerica at 3:51 PM on October 30, 2013

Instead of the equals sign, what about the approximate sign? ≈
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:53 PM on October 30, 2013 [7 favorites]

+/-
posted by jacquilynne at 3:54 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

A bell curve?
posted by Lexica at 3:55 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

I really like your idea of a bell curve/distribution curve. Especially if you can somehow highlight the averagest part of it.
posted by chatongriffes at 3:55 PM on October 30, 2013

Here's another proposal for a "meh" icon, designed as a reaction to the Facebook "like" icon. Not sure how it will read as a standalone.
posted by mhum at 4:00 PM on October 30, 2013

Something like this without the text?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:00 PM on October 30, 2013

It's no fun unless you're stealing registered trademarks.
posted by ckape at 4:09 PM on October 30, 2013 [3 favorites]

A picture or silhouette of the average man's body.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 4:14 PM on October 30, 2013

How about something like this symbol from a chart about adequate ventilation? Or the mathematical symbol for average?
posted by Maya Cecile at 4:14 PM on October 30, 2013 [2 favorites]

A check mark
posted by greta simone at 4:35 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Maybe a "2.5/4 stars" symbol across the chest? And that'd get the signal across better than 2/4.

The C-, in red with a circle, might be okay (or adequate).

Some of the others would be easy to misinterpret (shrug could look like confusion; two waves look like, well, waves).
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 4:47 PM on October 30, 2013 [6 favorites]

How about a tilde: ~

It sort of makes me think of sticking your hand out and rocking it side-to-side, indicating something's 'okay'.
posted by easily confused at 4:48 PM on October 30, 2013 [3 favorites]

Maybe a "2.5/4 stars" symbol across the chest?

This.
posted by klausman at 4:57 PM on October 30, 2013 [2 favorites]

Inspected by #373. Certified to meet minimum villian standards.
posted by fings at 5:30 PM on October 30, 2013 [3 favorites]

Do the bell curve, but shade in the center part (like this) to highlight that you are within one standard deviation from the mean in every way.
posted by fermion at 5:46 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

A half-full glass.

(An optimist says the glass is half full. A pessimist says it's half-empty. An engineer says it's twice as big as it needs to be.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:52 PM on October 30, 2013

The symbol from the boxes of cigars in the Tintin book Cigars of the Pharaoh. See the 'o' in the word pharaoh on the front cover of the book.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:07 PM on October 30, 2013

50/50
posted by jim in austin at 6:18 PM on October 30, 2013

x-bar: x̄
posted by rollick at 6:40 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

PASS | FAIL with a green check mark next to PASS and a "not" symbol (red circle with the red backslash) over the FAIL?
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 6:48 PM on October 30, 2013

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:49 PM on October 30, 2013 [5 favorites]

While I like the idea of a ~ for some reason, I'd go with a Scantron pattern with all Cs marked mostly in. Not perfect but enough to "pass"
posted by tilde at 7:18 PM on October 30, 2013

How about a nice thumbs up? Or an OK?
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 7:48 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

B-
posted by windykites at 8:26 PM on October 30, 2013

Best answer: I like the bell curve, or an O with a K inside it.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:34 PM on October 30, 2013

I came to suggest the checkmark, too. A checkmark doesn't say if something is good or bad, it's just ... there.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:45 PM on October 30, 2013

"meets expectations"
posted by misha at 10:47 PM on October 30, 2013

Also, something like this, but with simply "satisfactory" checked off.
posted by misha at 10:51 PM on October 30, 2013

A sigma for standard deviation.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 12:57 AM on October 31, 2013

Chocolate Pickle: "A half-full glass.

(An optimist says the glass is half full. A pessimist says it's half-empty. An engineer says it's twice as big as it needs to be.)"

An accountant wants to know why you're wasting money on a glass that's obviously too large.
posted by Samizdata at 2:04 AM on October 31, 2013

A maple leaf. Red.
posted by Wet Spot at 3:36 AM on October 31, 2013

an 'A', in classic superhero font, but lowercase.

a
posted by Ausamor at 6:59 PM on October 31, 2013

So what did you go with? Pics, please? Don't leave us all hanging, evil Dr. Adequate!
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 9:45 PM on October 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I ended up going with the K inside an O, as suggested by The Underpants Monster. It was satisfactory.
posted by Shohn at 5:44 AM on November 1, 2013