There are so many symbols and icons present in everyday life that we take for granted. Some make plenty of sense, like the stop sign. It literally says “stop”. Great, perfect.
But what about the power symbol? What the fuck is that meant to be? Who decided that shit? We want answers, dammit.
YouTube channel Lazy Game Reviews has come up with the goods, recently publishing a video titled ‘Why is THIS the power symbol?‘. Finally, we can have closure.
Basically, the symbol is a combination of 1 and 0, which represent the binary states of on and off. That’s all there is to it, folks.
Prior to 1973, the words “on” and “off” were used on electronics, but they weren’t really very nice looking and could only be understood in the language they were written.
So the International Electrotechnical Commission decided to put an end to that nonsense and devised the icon we now all know as the power symbol.
You can suss the full explanation in the video below. Remember it after your tenth beer tonight and excitedly tell all your mates. Do it.
Source and photo: Lazy Game Reviews.
