Restroom Icon Icons of Elimination Essay

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The examples from China, with their purely geometric design, would be even more confusing.

But these examples of how limiting icons are for communicating specific and clear meaning also illustrate the vast amounts of inferred knowledge that they can provide about a culture who uses them. The very fact that each culture has its own very unique way of representing this meaning (i.e. "restrooms") is evidence of this, but the specific examples can again be quite helpful in understanding the true import of cultural knowledge received through icons. The icons from Thailand reveal a people who are fairly literal minded and certainly unabashed about bodily functions. The Chinese icons represent a culture that is almost diametrically opposed on these counts; there is a marked attempt to refrain from representing the human form, while at the same time the complimentary asymmetry of the two icons is similar to other symbols of Chinese philosophy.

Though rudimentary in their ability to directly communicate meaning, icons are invaluable in their cultural communication. The American icons for male and female restrooms, quite similar to the example from Hong Kong in the text, attempts to typify men and women in the simplest terms possible, making a clear differentiation in the genders while at the same time attempting to deemphasize any gender-based differences in the actual structure of the bodies -- only the triangular dress on the female icon belies her different status.

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This is a subtle yet clear example of the meeting between egalitarian political correctness and long held contradictory beliefs that is so prevalent in American society and culture. Words could never capture the same juxtaposition so eloquently or so effortlessly; we must be thankful to icons for providing so much color and expression, if not meaning, to communication.

Explanatory paragraph: What I attempted to do in this essay was to show the benefit to the continued use of icons, despite the confusion they can sometimes cause. Specifically, I attempted to show the cultural information that could be conveyed almost instantaneously through icons that could never be put into fully adequate words. The process of writing this paper began when I first viewed the several icons mentioned and was struck with their difference and simultaneous similarity. I very quickly formulated my idea, and saw the simple structure I could use to lay out the paper, first introducing the principles of communication, then icons, then the limits of their use, and finally the benefits. My conclusion wrapped up these ideas and tied them to our own culture......

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"Restroom Icon Icons Of Elimination" (2009, May 31) Retrieved July 1, 2025, from
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