- [Narrator] Coming your way, here are 10 everyday symbols and icons with a past and history
that will blow your mind. Amazing! Number 10, the ampersand. Sitting there right on your keyboard like a bloated out dollar sign on crack is one of the most used
figures in creation. During a pesky part of it's travels, the ampersand was first
used throughout the days of the Roman Empire. A quick way to join things together, it's peculiar and squiggly
formation, a logogram is a union of the letters E and T. In Latin, they were
occasionally written together to form a ligature, ET, meaning aside from extraterrestrial, and. That's the first stop in
this detailed road trip. Now let's hop in our
time machine and fly back to the middle of the 19th century. During this period, the
symbol was recognized as the 27th letter of the
alphabet and taught as such to British school children who would recite it after the
letter zed in the alphabet. Basically, the sign became so popular, that it actually warranted
a place with the big guns. Since it would have confusing
to say X, Y, zed, and, and kids started repeating it and per-se, and, in fast slurred toddler jiberish, it ended up sounding as ampersand. Then in 1837, the term
officially entered common usage and the dictionary. Number nine, caduceus. Have you ever heard the
oxymoron Army intelligence? Well, this one will drive the
truth of that saying home. The stuff of Mercury or
Hermes pictured here, depending on your mythological tent pole is the medical go to symbol for a lot of health
organizations and professionals. It is a short rod
intertwined by two snakes and topped with a pair of wings. Now here's where the big
oops comes into play. Hermes, for all his many talents isn't exactly known
for his medical degree. He was the god of thieves,
inventors, merchants and messengers. In all fairness, the big guy
doesn't know the difference between a Tic Tac and an aspirin. On the other hand back in
Greece at around 1200 B.C. there was this fellow called Asclepius, a brilliant physician who
eventually bordered the lines between fiction and reality
and actually became, outlandishly a god. His field of practice and
divine influence was healing. Medical schools and shrines
were dedicated to Asclepius back in those days, with
his iconic coat of arms being a long wooden staff
with one snake and no wings. Thousands of years
later, one lonely officer in the U.S. Army Medical Corps mixed the two together
and slapped Hermes' staff on a couple of vans and medical tents. So, in other words, he chose
symbols from the wrong god. When you look at the insignia for most healthcare organizations, you are actually staring
at a huge mistake. Number eight, the heart logo. Candy, jewelry, that cute way
certain co-eds dot their I's, a thousand biker tattoos,
perhaps the heart symbol truly is one of the most common place and hackneyed logos in existence. It's all over the place
now and here's the rub, it looks nothing, not even
close to a real heart. The reason, simple. We humans fouled up a long the way. The first depictions of the heart symbol can be traced back to old Roman days. It was originally imprinted
on coins and letters as a way to identify a seed pod that's looked exactly the same. A seed pod of the silphium
plant, a herb used for one purpose only, as birth control, a herb that also no longer exists because it was boinked into extinction. After all this was the
time of the Caligula. Since it was used for birth control, silphium was first associated with sex and later became a symbol of love. Oh and one final thought,
the Romans usually linked this heart symbol which was
mostly depicted upside down to another human organ. Can you guess which one? It's starts with tes and ends with cles and usually dangles like prunes
between every man's legs. Number seven the barber pole. This one has a vile and
sinister back story. This classic red and white swirly stick was first introduced
back in the Middle Ages, back in those black,
death-filled, happy go lucky, hope you reach 40 heydays. Doctors were too stuck up
to perform common surgeries. Yuck, blood was their go to squeal. There was a demand in the market and a void needed to be filled. Hence, no strangers to doing nasty things, barbers filled the gap and
started piling up the dough, cutting hair, trimming
beards, removing thumbs, slicing off tumors, they really broadened their job description. During a time, these barber
surgeons that their true label, by the way, spent most
of their day bloodletting which was basically an
ancient system of medicine where by blood was
withdrawn from the patient. This was common practice
used by the locals to fight off everything
from a bad toothache to a gypsy curse. These willy merchants, seeking
to advertise their profession and draw in the nutballs started hanging blood soaked
bandages over their doors. A couple of centuries later we have the sanitary barber pole. Number six, skull and crossbones. This icon is a well established image that has worked wonders for
Johnny Depp's film career. It's main stronghold and
where you can usually find it is over anything that's guaranteed a speedy trip six feet under. Poison, nuclear stuff,
pissed off bikers, villains and just about anything you
don't want to mess with. The logo is mostly associated with pirates and most people think that
that's the place modern society borrowed it from. Wrong, most pirate flags
were personal designs, no two were identical. They were brands used to
strike terror into ships. Each one represented one
crew and one crew only. Black Beard and Henry Morgan
sailed under different seals and took glory and booty under that seal. They forged a legend under that flag. On the other hand the skull and crossbones actually first came into lore during the golden age of
piracy in the Bahamas. It's creator was the feared
buccaneer Calico Jack. The man, it was rumored was inspired by walking through the streets of Nassau and stumbling drunk on the
gates of the region's cemetery. On the main arch, as a universal sign used all throughout the
world in yonder times, a skull and crossbones,
a practice that had begun with the Spaniards back in the Dark Ages to label burial grounds. So essentially, it originated as a memento mori on tombstones. Number five, yin and yang. This is an ancient symbol first used during the better part of 400 B.C. and was discussed by Zou
Yan in Taoist philosophy and the school of naturalists. The symbol that has mostly stayed true to it's original meaning has
existed in Chinese literature for the better part of the
country's millennial history. This logo basically describes how two opposite contrary forces may actually benefit from each other and ultimately become attracted
by their negative spaces. In the end one cannot
exist without the other. According to legend, the symbol was an artistic representation of sunlight playing over mountains and valleys. Yin, this black section
meaning the shady place or north slope while
yang, the white section translates into the sunny
place or the south pole. Number four, fleur-de-lis. This emblematic and mostly French symbol became a mainstream and a
bit (mumbles) creative design for royalty. In a way, it became one of
the first logos and brands of the modern time. The fleur-de-lis or flower of lily graced countless European coats of arms and like a wildflower fad,
the rad design crossed borders and invaded countries. Italians, Spaniards,
English, Russians, Bosnians, Canadians, every high
society had a fleur-de-lis stamped onto something. There has been countless hypotheses as to where the design
originally sprouted from. For example, the gates
of Ishtar in Babylonia or manuscript from the 14th century. However, the most common belief is that it is a stylish wild lily, a flower that is mostly
associated with the goddess Juno, a figure venerated by the
Romans as the queen of gods and the wife of Juniper. Number three, okay. The I'm alright signal
which in some countries will get you barred from the pub is actually a sacred emblem
in Buddhism and Hinduism. The hand gesture which in many cases can also be translated
into text or pictures signifies (speaks in foreign language) which translates into
(speaks in foreign language) of discussion. It's a way for practitioners
to hail their faith and transmit their inclination
of spreading the teachings of Lord Buddha. In other words, it's
essentially the exotic and British equivalent
of crossing yourself in the name of Jesus. Number two, the lightning bolt. Never has a symbol
signified so many things with so little. This icon could easily reference the Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers, a DC speedster named
Flash, the Nazi movement, a charging station for your mobile phone and the wrath of God. The lightning bolt is one of the oldest and most recognized icons in history. It bridged and over
passed civilization gaps popping up almost supernaturally
throughout history in different extreme far
off points of the planet. Cavemen and neanderthals scratched them on caves hundreds of times. Civilizations of Norse, Roman, Greek and Native American decent
also linked it with sky gods and their divine punishment. The Navajo identified it
as the tag and insignia of the thunderbird. It's origin, therefore, as you can imagine is pretty straight forward,
an erratic, offhand, and slapdash representation
of one of primitive man's most prehistoric fear, fire from the sky. Number one, swastika. Never has a symbol been
hated more than the swastika, an ancient icon stolen and
plundered by a mustache madman. Nowadays you can't look at the swastika without feeling the need
to kick some Nazi sob straight in the balls. It has become a beacon of
cruelty, dehumanization and absolute, holds no bar evil. Sadly, in this venerable symbol's defense this is something vogue and avant-garde. This is something completely new up until the Nazi's got hold
of it in the 30's the swastika also known as the Gammadion cross was one of the holiest
symbols in the world. It has been featured
in Buddhism, Hinduism, every ancient civilization and society exploited it's patterns for everything from road maps to interior design. Old laundries in Ireland, breweries and even the Finnish and
Latvian Air Force supported it. The oldest depiction
and where many believe it originally zig zagged
from was way back in India when men were first
abandoning being nomads and started to get organized. The polytheist religion Hinduism employed it as a sign of two
of it's most powerful deities. Clockwise it represented
Vishnu, the supreme being. He who dreams reality into existence and counterclockwise you had
Kali a take no prisoners, bad ass dame who makes Sarah
Connor look like a baby. So that's it, 10 symbols and icons that can be found everywhere
and they're seriously messed up and strange history. Were there any missed in this countdown? Let us know in the comment section below.
