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All These Icons Used By Apple Have Vintage, Non-Digital Origins

All These Icons Used By Apple Have Vintage, Non-Digital Origins

You've probably never thought twice about the Apple "command" key on the lower left portion of your keyboard. But where does that curly square symbol come from?

All These Icons Used By Apple Have Vintage, Non-Digital Origins

It's actually taken from a Swedish road sign used to indicate tourist attractions.

The story goes that Steve Jobs became annoyed that the Apple symbol was being used too much on devices in 1983. So bitmap artist Susan Kare looked through a book of international symbols to replace the Apple command, and picked one that denotes campground attractions and ancient monuments in Scandinavia. It's been there ever since.

It is sometimes also called the pretzel key.

Why is the "return" key so named?

Why is the "return" key so named?

Originally, the "carriage return" was the lever on a typewriter you had to pull to make start a new line of words on the page.

Originally, the "carriage return" was the lever on a typewriter you had to pull to make start a new line of words on the page.

Why do Apple's "play," "stop" and "fast forward" buttons look that way?

Why do Apple

They come from the days when recordings were made on tape. The reason the "play" arrow faces right is because tapes used to spool from left to right when played.

They come from the days when recordings were made on tape. The reason the "play" arrow faces right is because tapes used to spool from left to right when played.

This is Apple's famous logo. It originates from something that has nothing to do with computers ...

Apple's original logo showed Newton sitting under an apple tree, where he was inspired to develop his theory of gravity. Apples were also one of founder Steve Jobs' favorite fruits.

Ever wondered where the Siri (or voice dictation) icon comes from?

It's a stylized version of a vintage microphone from the early 20th Century.

This icon tells you how much power you have left in your phone. In real life, however ...

Apple's batteries look nothing like the traditional battery symbol it uses. In most Apple products, you can't even see the batteries.

Apple

The video icon has nothing to do with digital video ...

It's a movie slate clapperboard, the thing they use to mark scenes to make film editing easier.

If you haven't examined the App Store icon closely you might not have noticed that ...

It's not simply a capital "A." It's a pencil, brush and ruler arranged into the form of an "A."

This ought to be an easy one: You know this is the iPhone's phone call symbol. But Apple has never made a phone that looks like that ...

This ought to be an easy one: You know this is the iPhone

The symbol comes from this type of rotary dial phone, which hasn't been in general use since the early 1990s.

The symbol comes from this type of rotary dial phone, which hasn

Now see ...

Now see ...

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