# Need help identifying symbol **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970 "2017-10-04T18:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/1 "2017-10-04T18:14:36Z")
A friend of mine works at Quincy University in Illinois, and has said that recently a few marks looking like this have shown up around campus. Can anyone help identify them (and possibly put some security fears to rest)? [![](https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/CrazyIvan777/Quincy%20university%20campus_zpsroeqxxsq.jpg) ](https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/CrazyIvan777/Quincy%20university%20campus_zpsroeqxxsq.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/2 "2017-10-04T19:07:32Z")
A one-eyed cat. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/3 "2017-10-04T19:13:40Z")
Martini. It’s a secret code referring to the [Martini-Enfield rifle](http://firearms.net.au/military/images/stories/Martini-Enfields.jpg), reminding people that Australia confiscated people’s guns, and a warning to beware of gun control measures. And if I’m making that up, may I win the jackpot in the lottery. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/4 "2017-10-04T20:32:16Z")
Looks possibly like a modified question mark. Also, might want to ask a [Hash House Harrier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers#Trail_markings), since they occasionally cause alarm when their symbols are found. (They mark their improvised running trails with flour or chalk which people sometimes mistake for arsenic or drugs or weird terrorist gang symbols. But it’s just a weekly running game they play.) Edit: Not seeing that particular symbol in a google image search for HHH trail markings though. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/5 "2017-10-04T20:42:22Z")
I think maybe it is utility workers surveying marks. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/6 "2017-10-05T00:35:12Z")
Surveyors generally use stakes, flags, chisel marks, and pins. [Utilities are usually marked](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Service_Alert) with straight lines, and they use spray paint or flags rather than chalk. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/7 "2017-10-05T01:25:14Z")
I don’t know, but I have seen arrows and straight lines were gas lines may be buried, painted with spray paint, close to new construction. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/8 "2017-10-05T01:53:10Z")
Does it indicate an alien landing site? It resembles some of those Aztec space port thingies. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/9 "2017-10-05T01:59:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Martini. > > It’s a secret code referring to the [Martini-Enfield rifle](http://firearms.net.au/military/images/stories/Martini-Enfields.jpg), reminding people that Australia confiscated people’s guns, and a warning to beware of gun control measures. > > And if I’m making that up, may I win the jackpot in the lottery. It definitely made me think of Martini before anything else, and I had no knowledge of the rifle of the background story with Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/10 "2017-10-05T10:22:35Z")
It looks sort of like a combination of the Deathly Hallows symbol and the Joker’s question mark. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/11 "2017-10-05T13:21:19Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > A one-eyed cat. A two-beaked duck. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/12 "2017-10-05T15:18:49Z")
A martini makes you into a boob who questions things. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/13 "2017-10-05T16:11:08Z")
If there was a cross on the bottom stroke I’d say it would be a damn fine symbol for the women’s march movement. (It’s not) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/14 "2017-10-06T00:27:26Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I don’t know, but I have seen arrows and straight lines were gas lines may be buried, painted with spray paint, close to new construction. Yeah. Lines and arrows and maybe initials or numbers. The color of the spray paint can indicate the type of utility underground. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/15 "2017-10-06T00:36:33Z")
My theory is that it’s warning of a nearby C.H.U.D. lair. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/16 "2017-10-06T13:38:30Z")
> [@ArrMatey](#): > > A friend of mine works at Quincy University in Illinois, and has said that recently a few marks looking like this have shown up around campus. Can anyone help identify them (and possibly put some security fears to rest)? > > [http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/CrazyIvan777/Quincy%20university%20campus\_zpsroeqxxsq.jpg](http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/CrazyIvan777/Quincy%20university%20campus_zpsroeqxxsq.jpg) Seriously? Someone has ‘security fears’ because strange chalk symbols are appearing in an area where there’s a huge concentration of 19-22 year-olds with too much time on their hands and beginnings of an education? Tell them that, so far, the [Harvard Bridge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot) has survived fifty years, despite its mysterious markings, and they can probably stop worrying. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/17 "2017-10-06T14:11:39Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Seriously? Someone has ‘security fears’ because strange chalk symbols are appearing in an area where there’s a huge concentration of 19-22 year-olds with too much time on their hands and beginnings of an education? Well correct me if I wrong, but don’t terrorist alway mark the location of their next target weeks in advance? They wouldn’t want a bomb going off to be a _surprise_ for goodness sake! ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/18 "2017-10-06T15:07:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Martini. > > It’s a secret code referring to the [Martini-Enfield rifle](http://firearms.net.au/military/images/stories/Martini-Enfields.jpg), reminding people that Australia confiscated people’s guns, and a warning to beware of gun control measures.\ I’d like to nominate this for Post of the Week. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/19 "2017-10-06T15:50:34Z")
> [@somepumpkin](#): > > I’d like to nominate this for Post of the Week. I second the nomination. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970/20 "2017-10-06T19:13:12Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > A one-eyed cat. Can’t tell if he’s entering a room or leaving. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-symbol/797970.md?page=2)