Ancient Traditions 86'd
by Uneducated Amerikans

"Ø", the universal symbol for "don't do this" is taken from the medieval art of heraldry. Standardized for centuries, it is a simple symbol with a simple history. Why, then, is it used incorrectly more often than not in what is being called "the information age?"

In medieval times the device emblazoned on the shield of a knight was more than a badge of identification. Heraldic coats of arms were pictographic advertisements for the knights who bore them on their shields. Generally, a knight who inherited (or bought) his title would have a horizontal bar across the top of their coat of arms while a knight employed by the church displayed a cross dividing it into quarters. Knights of the sword, however, who had earned their title in battle, had a diagonal slash across their coats of arms in imitation of the baldric upon which their sword was hung. The right-handed knight of the sword, therefor, proudly displayed a diagonal bar on his shield that ran from upper left to lower right, in imitation of his baldric.

Left-handed knights reversed this device to indicate their preferred fighting stance. To a right-handed knight who was trained to fight other right-handed knights, a left-handed foe was disorienting. Attacks came from the direction opposite the one from which they were expected. Everything was reversed. The fact that a left-handed foe was more difficult for a right-handed fighter to defend themselves against, together with the superstitious belief that left-handedness was a sign of demonic possession, led to the nomenclature for a reversed coat of arms. It became known as the "bar sinister." To a knight at a tournament, the bar sinister on another knight's shield carried a message of ominous treat, of danger and evil.

Until peace was made with the Arabs who were fought as infidels during the Crusades, Europeans had no such concept as "zero." Around the time of the Italian Renaissance, however, when the sciences emerged from the dark ages with almost all of European society, the sigil of the left-handed knight was adopted as the mathematical symbol for an empty set (i.e. "Ø"). In more recent times, a circle with a slash from upper right to lower left has been used alone to indicate danger or placed over an icon to indicate something forbidden. The most common example would be the letter "P" under a null sign to indicate "no parking." This symbol is common in all European countries where knights once fought.

In amerika, however, where the history of heraldic symbolism is studied little, if at all, the sign for "don't do this" has been mistakenly interpreted as a circle with a diagonal slash in either direction. "No parking" signs can be found in some amerikan cities that have a proper bar sinister. In other places, such as Fayetteville, Arkansas, they can be found in a reversed position, with the slash from upper left to lower right. Although the latter are generally interpreted by persons unfamiliar with the origin of the symbol as a bar sinister, they have no true meaning. If used on a coat of arms, of course, it would indicate that the bearer is a right-handed knight who earned his title in battle. Over an icon or the letter "P," though, it has no meaning whatsoever. One must wonder whether such a defense would hold up in court.