The narrator shares their journey of uncovering the origins of a globally recognized symbol, which they describe as an "S"-shaped symbol. They mention that they found this symbol in an article titled "Solved the Mystery of the Pointy S" from 2014, which sparked their interest in understanding its origin.
The symbol was often associated with an American clothing brand called Stussy, but the narrator found no concrete evidence of this. They also found a Japanese car company, Suzuki, which had a similar emblem, but again, no definitive connection was established.
The narrator spent years researching the symbol, extracting comments from online discussions, and filtering out false positives. This led them to a list of 1215 comments mentioning a country where the symbol had been seen or drawn. However, they were unable to find any definitive evidence of the symbol's origin.
Throughout their journey, they discovered that the symbol is often associated with various names and terms, such as the "Superman S" or the "infinity symbol". They also noticed a trend of people combining the symbol with certain terms and phrases, such as drawing it as part of the word "smile" or creating a chain rope-like pattern by continuously adding rows of three vertical lines.
One of the most unexpected discoveries was finding the symbol in a photograph from 1973 taken in New York City, which was featured in a book titled "The Faith of Graffiti" by photographer John Nora. This discovery was significant as it was the earliest known evidence of the Universal S.
Despite their extensive research, the narrator was unable to definitively determine the origin of the symbol. They concluded their journey with a note of frustration and disappointment, stating that they would be done with the topic.
1. The speaker has been searching for five years to find the origin of a symbol they drew in primary school, which they now recognize as a globally recognized symbol.
2. The symbol is strongly associated with the American clothing brand Stussy, but there is no evidence of this association.
3. The symbol is also associated with a Japanese car company, Suzuki, due to its similar basic shape.
4. The symbol is frequently associated with the American heavy metal band Slipknot, but there's no resemblance.
5. The symbol has been seen or drawn by people worldwide, with the most over-representation in English-speaking countries.
6. The symbol is practically universal, with a presence on every continent except Antarcta.
7. The symbol is also associated with the number 8, and can be depicted as the number 5 or the number two when inverted.
8. The symbol has over 60 different names, including the Superman s, skaters surfers, stoner coal, and gangster.
9. The symbol is frequently drawn as part of the word smile, especially with a palm tree in place of the letter.
10. The symbol is also claimed to be a chain rope or braid-like pattern.
11. The symbol is believed to have originated as a pattern that was eventually truncated down to an s-shaped symbol.
12. The oldest photographic evidence of the symbol came in the form of graffiti from 2006.
13. The symbol was also found in a movie from 1978, where it was scribbled on the wall of a jail cell.
14. The symbol was also found in a book titled Mechanical Graphics, published in 1890, which features a slightly rounded version of the symbol.
15. The symbol is believed to have spread through word-of-mouth and is considered a meme.