Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 09:19:32 -0400 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Tridents (was Re: FreeBSD Version Release numbers) Message-ID: <3EE9CF64.4090504@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <3EE97A1D.62E0D6DE@mindspring.com> References: <20030612162640.N24605-100000@haldjas.folklore.ee> <20030612213152.I26939@njamn8or.no-ip.org> <3EE97A1D.62E0D6DE@mindspring.com>
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You're quite the historian, Terry. My understanding, however, of the use of the "trident" with the Beastie is that it's not a trident but a "fork", with the obvious play on words in mind. Obviously, for t-shirts and other representations to be viewable at a distance, an eating- sized fork was not large enough, thus a pitchfork was used. The pitchfork was stylized in such a way that modern representations look more like a trident (probably unfortunate for those who apply great significance to symbols). So, if someone claims that the Beastie has some negative symbology because he's carrying a trident, simply explain that it's only a fork, and refer them to the proper man page. Terry Lambert wrote: > > They are not technically tridents. They are a symbol of the > Hindu god Vishnu. The news report from Reuters, which was > echoed by Yahoo, incorrectly confuses Vishnu with Shiva, and > calls Vishnu "god of destruction" (as opposed to Shiva, who > is also known as "Shiva The Destroyer"). > > The three tines represent creation, destruction, and rebirth. > > Philosophically, this has nothing to do with the ancient > mediterranean gods "Poseidon" or "Neptune", depending on you > being, respectively, an ancient Greek or an ancient Roman, > who was god of the sea and of earthquakes. > > The original purpose of the trident was for the spearing of > fish -- it was the ancient equivalent of a fishing pole (hence > the association with sea gods). > > The trident was never really a weapon of war; instead, it was > used as a weapon in gladitorial combat, shortly after the > introduction of the Circus Maximus; like the short sword (a > "gladius", from which "gladiator" is derived), it was not very > efficient as a weapon, since, like the gladius, it was really > intended to provide a prolonged battle (oh yes, the modern word > "circus" derives from the central Rome arena "Circus Maximus", > but I don't see anyone suggesting that Ringling Brothers & > Barnum and Bailey rename their show!). > > FWIW, the trident was only one of three weapons given to a > specific type of gladiator called a "Retarius". The other two > were a net and a dagger. When a killing blow was called for > (a "thumbs up" meant "death" and a "thumbs down" meant "mercy"; > the modern "thumbs up" originated from aviation ground crews in > WW I being unable to OK a checklist verbally over noisy engines), > it was the dagger that was used -- surprise: 7-8 foot pointy > sticks are generally not useful in the necessary close combat). > > I always like to think of the BSD Daemon's trident being used to > keep trouble at a distance, as the trident was used in gladatorial > combat to keep the enemy at a distance until they could be snared > with the net and finished off (if necessary) with the dagger. I > guess you could also make a case for a fishing metaphor, too, > particularly for, say, the early lpd, which trolled a spool > directory looking for files to write to the printer device. > > Of course, you needn't take my word for it: I'm sure this is all > out there on the Internet somewhere. > > -- Terry > > -- Bill Moran Potential Technologies http://www.potentialtech.com
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