[0152] (47 lines) Lippard.Multics 08/20/87  1011.0 mst Thu misc
Subject:  Terminal Talk
Date:  Thursday, 20 August 1987 08:35 mst
From:  Ron Barstad <RBarstad>
To:  Lippard

Date: Sat, 22 Jun 85 08:24:58 pdt
From: Vaughan Pratt <pratt@Navajo>
Subject: Why do icons fall?

                [Forwarded from the Stanford bboard.]

Why do icons need to be "fallen?"   Consider:


/|\             highway: messages about routes, rides, car repairs, etc.

/v|^\  /^|v\    which side to drive on: right denotes a message agreeing
                with someone or taking a conformist position, left denotes
                disagreement or nonconformism

--o-O-o--       plane: aviation-related messages (cheap tickets, etc.)

</\>            claw: a vindictive ~=

=|=             dragonfly: message about insects

\|/             plant: botany, vegetation, etc.

_\|/_           explosion: nonnuclear warfare (messages about 108 mm
                recoilless slings and arrows)

|=|=|           fence: message about boundaries, also for fence-post errors

db              scissors up: a wanted cut, e.g. request to cut off a topic of
                discussion

qp              scissors down: an unwanted cut - funding cut, etc.

^^^             mountains: hiking/camping/skiing messages

(^v^)           a user of nonfallen icons, cf. #8^)


On the one hand the existence of such icons calls into question the
appropriateness of the term "fallen."  On the other hand why have
almost all of them to date been of the fallen persuasion?

-v
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