What does this "e" stand for?

July 29, 2006 6:29 PM

What does this "e" symbol with a diagonal arrow coming out of the top and an upside down cross (?) coming out of the bottom represent?
posted by leapingsheep to Religion & Philosophy (13 answers total)

The male and female signs combined and turned into an e.
posted by MadamM at 6:30 PM on July 29, 2006

to signify both male and female I would guess.
posted by Hypharse at 6:30 PM on July 29, 2006

Response by poster: But why the e?
posted by leapingsheep at 6:31 PM on July 29, 2006

Actually, accoridng to Wikipedia, it's a symbol for transgendered or intersexual people.
posted by MadamM at 6:32 PM on July 29, 2006

To spell 'coexist'. The yin yang sign doesn't normally have an 's' in it either.
posted by painquale at 6:32 PM on July 29, 2006

Because e is round-ish? The o is used for the peace symbol, which wouldn't fit into an e.
posted by MadamM at 6:33 PM on July 29, 2006

Response by poster: Well, thanks everyone. I'm not going to tell how long I stared at it before I asked!
posted by leapingsheep at 6:35 PM on July 29, 2006

It looks like they did it to the "e" in "coexist" because all the other letters had already been used for other things.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:38 PM on July 29, 2006

Best answer: Yeah, none of the letters really have anything to do with the design on them, except that it looks harmonious. Except the C for crescent (in English, anyway). The logo is based on a design by a Polish artist named Piotr Mlodozeneic, and the Coexist clothing label embellished it by turning each letter into a symbol of some kind. This is the original design:


posted by iconomy at 6:41 PM on July 29, 2006

This was the first time I'd seen this bumper sticker, and my first impression was that the combined male/female symbol simply represents harmony between the sexes.
posted by davcoo at 7:45 PM on July 29, 2006

After seeing the original and then seeing the image that leapingsheep linked, the bumper sticker (or clothing label, or whatever that is) is so garish and overdone compared to the original, which is so balanced and powerful.
posted by iconomy at 7:50 PM on July 29, 2006

It's a plea for people of all races, creeds and colors to stop the violence against Prince.
posted by Hildago at 9:11 AM on July 30, 2006

I, personally, had not seen that version of the art, but rather this bumper sticker version, which I think is much more stylishly done.
posted by baylink at 12:09 PM on July 30, 2006