SYMBOLS YOU DO NOT KNOW THE MEANING AND ITS ORIGIN

- [Narrator] Symbols! We see them everywhere. On traffic signs, on logos, on our phones, even hand gestures are a kind of symbol. But have you ever wondered where all these universal squiggles and swoops come from? Well, allow me to act as your humble cryptographer, as we decode everything from ancient @ signs to confusing controller buttons. These are the secret origins of everyday symbols. (gentle music) Three Points. Be honest, how many times have you tried to plug in a USB, only to flip it over and over, struggling to figure out which way it plugs in? Oh man is it humbling. But what's even more humbling is seeing that weird little trident symbol on the port and having no idea what it's meant to be! The circle, square, and triangle, it's like they're mocking me. What do they mean? Well, the three-pronged USB symbol was modeled after . For those who missed that history lesson, that's the name of the trident wielded by Poseidon, the ancient Greek God of the Sea. The three shapes at the trident's points are there to signify the variation in peripherals that can all be connected via a Universal Serial Bus, or USB. As such, the trident was designed to symbolize the technological power USB's have; being able to connect a wide range of other devices. Finally, I know what it means! Still won't be able to plug it in on the first try, though. (screen whooshing) Arch enemies. If you hold up your index and middle fingers, it can mean a number of different things. It can be a sign of peace, a symbol of victory, or a very rude gesture in the UK, depending on which way round the fingers are held. But the inception of this two-fingered salute is believed to be older and more gruesome than most Brits realize. At least one meaning of the gesture traces its origins back to the Hundred Years War, which was fought over 116 years, pretty aptly named there, between France and England. The legend states that during this conflict, the French would remove the middle and index fingers of English longbowmen they captured before.