Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 12:21:24 +0100 From: Peter McGarvey <fbsd-x@packet.org.uk> To: Mark Murray <mark@grondar.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Tridents (was Re: FreeBSD Version Release numbers) Message-ID: <20030613112124.GA1513@packet.org.uk> In-Reply-To: <200306131054.h5DAsaHh008904@grimreaper.grondar.org> References: <3EE97A1D.62E0D6DE@mindspring.com> <200306131054.h5DAsaHh008904@grimreaper.grondar.org>
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* Mark Murray <mark@grondar.org> [2003-06-13 11:56:05 BST]: > Terry Lambert writes: > > (a "thumbs up" meant "death" and a "thumbs down" meant "mercy"; > > Other way round. The way it was explained to me was the thumb was a sort of mime representation of a dagger. So it's fairly obvious that thumbs-down represents "sheath your dagger", and thumbs-up meant "have some". This may seem contrary to the modern usage, but on reflection the meaning is still the same. Thumbs-up indicating positive, Thumbs-down indicating negative. It's simply that modern society isn't quite a blood-thirsty as the Romans, and so we've reversed our assumptions - we assume gladiators were asking the question "do I let him live", whereas they were really asking "do I kill him". -- TTFN, FNORD Peter McGarvey Freelance FreeBSD Hacker (will work for bandwidth)
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