Understanding common 21st Century symbols, looking back from the 22nd Century
As a history adventurer, and a time-traveler, I like to look at old photos and try to figure out what the symbols mean, often from the vantage point of over 100 years. It ain't easy! And that's because what was once so common that everyone knew about it, washes away with time until it becomes a mystery.
So, today, March 4th, 2021, as I was sitting outside of the local Walmart, drinking my coffee, I took a picture of a very common sight, a delivery truck. And I thought that it would be fun to time-travel 100 years into the future, and explain the symbols. If there are some old-timers out there who remember 2021, I would appreciate your help! I'll do the best I can.
I'll start with the delivery truck, which is how things were transported to stores in 2021. They were driven by people, using a steering wheel (you can see it in the photo), and the person who drove the truck also had the job of removing items from it, and then transporting them, usually with a dolly, into the store. I've never driven a truck, or had any type of job like this, so I don't know the whole routine. My best guess is that it shouldn't have been parked there on the sidewalk, but I really don't know. But let's take a closer look at the symbols on the door.
You're probably wondering about the circular symbol in the center of the door. Keep in mind that these symbols were so common that everybody knew them at the time, and this one was so famous that the product that it advertised didn't even need to write the name, which was Pepsi, or Pepsi-Cola. Pepsi was a carbonated beverage that people drank for pleasure. It had no nutritional value, but people loved the taste (personally I prefer Coca-Cola, but that's for another blog post!). When Pepsi was invented, it was called Pepsikola, and was intended as a cure for indigestion, and to give you energy, or "pep".
Below the Pepsi logo are the words "New Bern Transport Corp.", which is an abbreviation for Corporation. This was the company that owned and operated this truck, and below their name is a number that they were obligated to prominently display by the US DOT, which meant "The United States Department of Transportation". The rectangular symbol there to the left was the United States flag, which had fifty stars representing the fifty states, and thirteen stripes representing the thirteen original colonies. The number below that, in silver, was just part of the truck, possibly its model number, and below that presumably is the company's number for that particular truck.
The symbol above the door handle, next to the words "No cash", was a symbol for United States Currency. All countries had their own currency, and were often represented with symbols. "Cash" meant pieces of paper that were used in addition to digital money, and also coins, which were disc-shaped pieces of metal. The "circle/slash" symbol, on top of another symbol, meant "no". The circle/slash was often seen on signs over whatever was prohibited.
By the way, in the background you can see a curb that's painted red, with the words "No Parking" on it. This showed people where they shouldn't park their cars (all cars had drivers in them at the time). The yellow on the post there has no meaning, other than being brightly colored to help drivers not accidently hit it, and knock it down, which often happened in those days. This was a parking lot, where drivers would stop their cars and walk from them into a building.
I hope this helps. Yes, these were so commonplace in the 21st Century that most people just took them for granted, but I don't, and I know that you don't, either!
Thank you for visiting the 21st Century with me!
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