From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 13 04:21:26 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D9AE937B404 for ; Fri, 13 Jun 2003 04:21:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mailgate.packet.org.uk (public2-with1-3-cust50.bagu.broadband.ntl.com [80.5.52.50]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1BCB143FBD for ; Fri, 13 Jun 2003 04:21:26 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from fbsd-x@packet.org.uk) Received: from xaphod by mailgate.packet.org.uk with local (Exim 4.20) id 19QmcW-0000VL-2k; Fri, 13 Jun 2003 11:21:24 +0000 Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 12:21:24 +0100 From: Peter McGarvey To: Mark Murray Message-ID: <20030613112124.GA1513@packet.org.uk> References: <3EE97A1D.62E0D6DE@mindspring.com> <200306131054.h5DAsaHh008904@grimreaper.grondar.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200306131054.h5DAsaHh008904@grimreaper.grondar.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Tridents (was Re: FreeBSD Version Release numbers) X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 11:21:27 -0000 * Mark Murray [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)