# Can you tell me what this symbol is??

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-me-what-this-symbol-is/746515>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 19, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-me-what-this-symbol-is/746515 "2016-02-19T02:48:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-me-what-this-symbol-is/746515/21 "2016-02-20T01:39:41Z")

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> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> I wonder if it predates Quake, and whoever designed the Quake symbol (which I’ve always read is “just a sylized Q”) took it for the game.

I’m friends with John Romero. I’ll ask him.

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**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-me-what-this-symbol-is/746515/22 "2016-02-20T02:00:51Z")

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It could just be a very stylized symbol for a phone, when you think about what they actually looked like 100 years ago, and since you had to carve something for the bell to sound through-- it was for incoming calls-- why not a stylized phone symbol?

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**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-me-what-this-symbol-is/746515/23 "2016-02-20T15:43:46Z")

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> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#):
>
> I’m friends with John Romero. I’ll ask him.

Nope, he says no connection. Just random coincidence. Cool though!

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-me-what-this-symbol-is/746515/24 "2016-02-20T21:08:49Z")

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> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#):
>
> I’m friends with John Romero. I’ll ask him.

wat.

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