# Does anybody know what this symbol represents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889 "2009-01-25T04:38:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/1 "2009-01-25T04:38:10Z")
I saw [this](http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s102/mastadonbucket/whut.png) symbol spray-painted on one of those big silver boxes placed alongside a railroad track. It looks too pitiful to be a “tag” and if it were it would be the first I’ve ever seen in the area. It is, however, very close to where a group of vagrants have been seen staying in the woods recently so I thought it might be some kind of hobo sign. It’s probably not. Still, I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/2 "2009-01-25T05:33:06Z")
It resembles the Under Armour logo, but that’s probably not what it is. My guess, someones initials, or some teen/tween ‘gang’ logo. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/3 "2009-01-25T06:22:47Z")
Hmm, looks kinda like the Anarchy symbol with a mustache and no circle around it. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/4 "2009-01-25T06:42:09Z")
It vaguely looks like [the logo for Auburn University.](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GZEZ_en-GBUS286QA286&q=auburn+logo) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/5 "2009-01-25T06:54:09Z")
Based on it’s location and style, I would guess a hobo sign, too, but I’ve been surfing for a while and haven’t found one similar. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/6 "2009-01-25T06:58:41Z")
Maybe it just means gold. ---
**Author:** ![Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f1d935/32.png) [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dilton_Doiley_Philosopher_King)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/7 "2009-01-25T07:27:10Z")
I vote for tag. I think a tag is more likely than a ‘hobo sign’. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/8 "2009-01-25T10:25:55Z")
I’m leaning away from the tag theory, for two reasons: 1.) People just don’t do that very much around here. I may have seen one or two of those things in my whole life; I actually learned what the word meant here on this message board. I guess anything’s possible along a railroad track though. 2.) From what a Google image search tells me, if it is a tag, it’s a lousy example of one. The style seems more reminiscent of a hobo sign based on some of the charts floating around on the webbernets, but I can’t find this particular one. Maybe it is just a train-hopping Auburn fan with an affinity for bling. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/9 "2009-01-25T10:39:25Z")
The “U” part looks a lot like the [Camp Here](http://www.worldpath.net/~minstrel/signs-2.gif) hobo symbol, but I don’t know what the other part is supposed to be. A tent? Doesn’t look like any gang tag I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/10 "2009-01-25T17:37:33Z")
If it had been around here, it would be the gang sign for the Ugly Americans gang. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-know-what-this-symbol-represents/482889/11 "2009-01-26T01:47:03Z")
My first impulse was to think that it was vaguely reminiscent of the Masonic compass and square, drawn by someone who forgot that the square was, well, squared. [Symbols.com](http://Symbols.com) gives a [better resemblance](http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/41b/41b53.html), but the angle of the ecliptic hypothesis would be _really_ out there in the context of tags and hobo signs.