26Amsterdam's Blue Light Clue
Blue lights in Amsterdam's Red Light District indicate prostitutes who are not technically female (or born as such).
27. The inverted cross, associated with Satanist and anti-religion groups, is the Cross of St. Peter, a Christian symbol symbolizing humility and unworthiness in comparison to Jesus.
28. Sea monsters on maps originally marked uncharted territories.
29. Copyleft is a legal license allowing free usage and modification of work. It even boasts a symbol—a rotated copyright mark.
30. The KISS band altered their logo while performing in Germany due to the resemblance of their S's to the Nazi SS emblem.
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31Ireland's Emblem Journey
After Ireland's independence, the government intended to adopt the traditional Trinity College harp as a national emblem. Guinness had trademarked the harp decades earlier, leading the government to embrace a mirrored image instead.
32. Prior to the Nazis' Western adoption of the Swastika, it was utilized by numerous entities, including Rudyard Kipling, the 45th Infantry Division of the United States Army, Carlsberg Group, the Finnish Air Force, Boy Scouts in Britain, The Royal Air Force's 273 Squadron, the Arizona Department of Transportation, and many others.
33. The Egyptian fertility god Min, symbolized by lettuce and the bull, was often depicted with an erect penis. Among ancient Egyptians, lettuce was considered an aphrodisiac.
34. The hashtag on a telephone is referred to as an 'octothorpe,' while the asterisk is known as a 'sextile.'
35. The infinity symbol is sometimes called the lemniscate. It gained a mathematical meaning in 1655 through John Wallis and appears in the Latin Cross and certain tarot cards.
36Recycling Symbol's Creator
The recycling symbol ♻️, designed by college student Gary Anderson in a 1970 contest, forms a Möbius strip with three arrows in a triangular loop. Due to its unregulated nature, it's often mistakenly printed on non-recyclables like Styrofoam.
37. The push to replace the skull and crossbones as the international poison symbol stems from its association with pirates, causing some children to no longer perceive it as a warning. A proposed alternative is "Mr. Yuk."
38. The play symbol ▶️ originally indicated the direction the tape traveled after pressing the VCR play button.
39. The pound sign £ is a stylized "L," originating from the Latin "libra pondo," a Roman unit of weight. "Pound sterling" is its name due to its original definition as the value of a pound of sterling silver.
40. The Stop Sign was introduced in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. In 1954, the white-on-red design was standardized; it had previously appeared in black or red on a yellow background.
