# The difference between the real heart shape and Valentine heart...The answer. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 31, 1999, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343 "1999-08-31T09:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OtisAbi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@OtisAbi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisAbi)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/1 "1999-08-31T09:39:00Z")
The answer to the question is interesting but somehow isn’t totally satisfactory. The answer was pretty damn easy to those who know the meanings of the symbols on playing cards. The symbols on playing cards symbolize weapons of war.E.g Diamond is a spear head. Like wise the heart shape is in fact a bow that’s strangled to shoot. For many centuries the strangled bow was the symbol of love, for Cupid (or eros) used a bow to make two people fall in love with each other. And with a little deductive reasoning you will find out that the bow that shoots the arrows through the hearts of it’s victims has replaced with a loving heart. And so the answer is given, and OtisAbi answers all. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/2 "1999-08-31T15:47:00Z")
I am willing to admit to the possibility of a connection between the iconic heart and a taut bow, but I’d want to see evidence that the standard playing-card suits are all weapons, given the corresponding Tarot suits: swords = spades (Italian for sword is spada) hearts = cups diamonds = coins clubs = staves * * * John W. Kennedy “Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.” – Charles Williams ---
**Author:** ![Geenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Geenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geenius)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 1999, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/3 "1999-08-31T19:25:00Z")
One glitch in the “heart-as-bow” theory: Nobody, for reasons that a moment’s thought should make obvious, ever shoots a bow straight up in the air. If the heart were a stylized image of a bow, it would aim to the side. It’s true that the _spade_ (fr. It. _spada_, “sword”) is a stylized weapon image – either a spearhead or a dagger. But not all the suits are the same. Plus, the heart shape appears in heraldic designs going as far back as the middle ages – _before_ playing cards were popularized. I favor the conventional interpretation: that French-style (what we think of as “ordinary”) and Italian-style (found in tarot decks) playing card suits represent the segments of medieval society – the nobility (spades/swords), the clergy (hearts/cups), the merchant class (diamonds/coins) and the peasantry (clubs/batons). It should surprise no one that the groups’ relative power in society coincides exactly with what we consider to be the high-low order of the suits in games such as bridge. BTW, the word “club” in the playing card context is related to the word “clover,” perhaps corrupted through association with batons, the corresponding tarot suit. The French name for the suit is _trèfle_, which means "clover. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 1999, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/4 "1999-09-01T10:26:00Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_146.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_146.html) This is why I get paid the big bucks… to post links for you people. ---
**Author:** ![gabrielsystems](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@gabrielsystems](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabrielsystems)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/5 "1999-12-10T23:15:00Z")
## I don’t have any data to support this other than it is what I have always assumed. But I think the heart is pictured after the profiles of two people kissing. Picture it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 1999, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/6 "1999-12-10T23:30:00Z")
I’m trying, gabriel, I’m trying. But all I can come up with is a Pink Floyd album. (horrid afterthought…at least I _think_ it’s Pink Floyd…geez, I’m going to look particularly idiotic if I’m wrong…) * * * Lyxdesics of the lowrd untie! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/7 "1999-12-11T16:47:00Z")
The **[SYMBOLS.com](http://SYMBOLS.com)** has this to say: [http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/20/2018.html](http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/20/2018.html) I find this quote to be just a bit facile: > [@](#): > > Its meaning for the people living in Europe before the last Ice Age of course is not known, but since these Cro-Magnons were hunters one can be reasonably sure it meant that life sustaining organ pumping around the blood of the organism every second of its lifetime. since it assumes that the symbol that was found means what we think of, today. (The site does speculate that the point-based heart shape is derived from a round-based heart shape which would, indeed, look somewhat like an actual heart.) The site also mentions > [@](#): > > In early heraldry it is not uncommon. It is found, for example, on the coat of arms of Magnus Ladulås from the thirteenth century, a Swedish king known for his work to ensure the safety and sanctity of women, and to put an end to the habit of knights and soldiers to take what they wanted from the peasants. which pushes back Cecil’s 1400’s reference a little bit (without actually establishing that the Ladulås symbol/reference is exactly “our” heart). * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![WhiteNight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@WhiteNight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhiteNight)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/8 "1999-12-14T20:09:00Z")
Geenius writes: > [@](#): > > One glitch in the “heart-as-bow” theory: Nobody, for reasons that a moment’s thought should make obvious, ever shoots a bow straight up in the air. If the heart were a stylized image of a bow, it would aim to the side. You might not have been aware the common problem facing teens in the middle ages. Gangs of them would collect in the forest play a game resembling Russian Roulette, where they would hold their bows straight up and fire arrows into the air, causing them to come down in and around the group. Many children were killed by this, enough so that the pope declare it the Devil’s game. This is where the heart as bow-facing-up symbol came from, and where the repuation for cards being the Devil’s passtime came from. Glad to be of service. For the humor impared, this was a joke in reference to the semi-urban legend about gangs firing their guns into the air, killing many gang members and innocent passer-bys. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 1999, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/9 "1999-12-15T21:19:00Z")
While we’re at it, let’s not forget this relevant link… [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_308.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_308.html) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 1999, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-difference-between-the-real-heart-shape-and-valentine-heart-the-answer/343/10 "1999-12-17T06:03:00Z")
Kara- Yes, that’s _The Division Bell_. If you look at the cover, it actually does look a bit like a heart. I’ve been wondring for a while whether that was intentional.