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Old Symbols…New Meanings

By Brian | May 13, 2007 | Share on Facebook

The family and I were at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend, enjoying the annual Alumni Day festivities. We spent Saturday evening at the Marriott Hotel near the Philadelphia airport (accomodations during Penn’s alumni weekends are typically “grab what you can get,” given the number of people there for both the weekend, as well as the commencement excercises on Monday).

In any case, I’m in the hotel room and I look up at the wall, and see this by the fire alarm / sprinkler system:

A coat hanger with a red circle and line through it? Back when I was a student at Penn, that was the rather macabre symbol of the Pro Choice movement, signifying the “back-alley” abortions that would take place with coathangers if abortion were illegal. Was Marriott making a political statement? Or maybe a previous guest went around putting stickers on hotel room walls to publicize their views? A closer look cleared it up:

Just an electrical warning. I guess the symbol no longer carries the meaning it once did…

Topics: Random Acts of Blogging | 1 Comment »

One Response to “Old Symbols…New Meanings”

  1. Jeff Porten says at May 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am :
    I’ve seen that too, and it threw me for a loop. Back at Penn, I had a button with that symbol, and A Mutual Friend Who Shall Remain Nameless asked me, “Does that mean you’re against ironing?”

    My guess is, someone saw the image out of context and thought it would be great in their bathroom….