Symbolism

[plonq]

It has been at least six months since I bought this French press, but while I only got around to reading the label on it. It's one of those plastic films with white text on it, designed to be more easily read when the pot is full of coffee. As such, this is the first time that I noticed the curious pictographs on the label:



At first I was confused about the meaning of these little hieroglyphics, but the longer I studied them, the more sense they made.

First, be cautious in all things. That's just good advice, and something I would not have expected to find on a coffee pot. It's the kind of thing you might expect to find on a Starbucks cup perhaps. Don't overextend yourself, and don't forget to smell the flowers now and then. A little preachy perhaps, but not bad advice.

The second was bit trickier. At first I thought it meant STOP, but if that was the case they would have put it in a hexagon, rather than a circle. An open circle implies a positive message. Then it struck me that the symbol is for a high-five. It means, "Dude, your coffee is done! Gimme five!"

The final one is obvious; it means, "Don't give coffee to the baby, no matter how amusing the idea might sound."

So there you go, the cryptic warning has been deciphered. "Take care, enjoy your coffee, and don't give any to the baby."

Not sure why it wasn't a cat with a slash through it, because I'm pretty sure that giving coffee to the cats would also be a bad idea. Maybe I should write to the company.

Comments

[felinaeus.livejournal.com]

So, in translation, it reads: "Hey! Good Job. Now don't give the coffee to your baby!"?

Them's Good Eatin'

[xydexx.livejournal.com]

I beg to differ; the last one looks like a baby impaled on a spear. It's in a box, which is usually considered informational rather than the prohibitive (cf. the NO symbol).

It probably means that babies are the recommended hors d'oeuvres to serve with coffee.

[pierrekrahn.livejournal.com]

Clearly it's warning you to DON'T TOUCH BABIES DUCT TAPED TO TABLETOPS!

[furahi.livejournal.com]

That's along the lines of what I was thinking too :P

[smrgol-t-kirin.livejournal.com]

On the second, I think it may be better to use an octigon rather than a hexigon. A circle usually means a manditory action. Maybe they want you to wash your hands before drinking the coffee?

I think the last may be to seatbelt or restrain the baby in a box after giving him coffee. If it were to stop you, the slash would be in the other direction and would be in a circle.