Script and Investigation for Be Amazed, YouTube Channel.

We see symbols every day, like the ampersand, Ccaduceus and the heart icon/logo, but do you ever spare a thought for their origins? From Yin and Tang to the swastika, here are 10 Symbols & Icons You Don’t Know the Meaning & Origins of!

The ampersand (&). Sitting there on your keyboard like a bloated-out dollar sign on crack is one of the most used figures in creation. During a pesky part of its travels, the ampersand was first used throughout the days of the Roman empire. A quick way to join two things together. It’s peculiar and squiggly formation, a logogram – for those in the known – is a union of the letters E and T. Caduceus – Have you ever heard the oxymoron “army intelligence”? Well, this next one will drive the truth of that saying home. The staff of Mercury or Hermes pictured here, depending on your mythological tentpole, is the medical go-to symbol for a lot of health organizations and professionals. It is a short rod intertwined by two snakes and topped with a pair of wings.

The Heart Logo – Candy, jewelry, that cute way certain coeds dot their Is, a thousand biker tattoos, perhaps the heart symbol truly is one of the most commonplace and hackneyed logos in existence. It’s all over the place. Now, and here’s the rub, it looks nothing, not even close, to a real heart. The Barber Pole – This one has a vile and sinister backstory. The classic red and white swirly stick was first introduced back in the Middle Ages. Back in those Black Death filled happy-go-lucky, hope you reach 40, heydays, doctors were too stuck up to perform common surgeries. “Yuck, blood,” was their go to squeal. There was a demand in the market and void needed to be filled. Skull and Crossbones. This icon is a well-established image that has worked wonders for Johnny Depp’s Film career. Its main stronghold and where you can usually find it is over anything that’s guaranteed a speedy trip six-feet under. Poison, nuclear, pissed off bikers, villains and just about anything you don’t want to mess with. The logo is mostly associated with Pirates and most people think that’s the place modern society borrowed it from. Wrong! Most Pirate flags were personal designs. Yin and Yang. An ancient symbol first used during the better part of 400BC and discussed by Zou Yan in the Daoist philosophy and the School Of Naturalists. The symbol, that has mostly stayed true to its original meaning, has existed in Chinese literature for the better part of this country’s millennial history…