10 People Who Discovered a Totally Unexpected Meaning Behind Their Belongings

The internet can be a great tool for finding answers to things that you didn’t even know you could learn. Even if an initial Google search doesn’t immediately give you the answer to what you’re looking for, it’s always possible to turn to social media and forums to find out if anyone, anywhere in the world, has an answer to your question. While you still need to perform thorough research to make sure the info you’ve been given is reliable, user knowledge can be a good place to start.

So Bright Side has put together a list of 10 people who were very resourceful and decided to ask Reddit users for help to find out the origin and meaning of some of their belongings. We can’t help but say that some of the symbols were pretty hard to figure out, but some users really came through with the answers!

10.

This is the first thing we found that proves that the internet has an answer to (pretty much) everything. Reddit users have discovered that this pendant is a Tuareg Cross of Agadez. As the name suggests, the symbol comes from the Tuareg culture, a nomadic people who often wear a wide variety of accessories, one of them being this cross that offers protection and guidance. It’s passed on from father to son when the latter reaches puberty.

9.

The Endless Knot, which is also called a Shrivatsa or Symbol of Karma, is a Buddhist and Hindu symbol that can be found in many other religions. Its intertwined lines, with no “beginning” or “end,” represent the relationship between cause and effect.

8.

As the Reddit community pointed out when the question was asked, the image corresponds to Chai (חי), a Jewish symbol that means “alive” or “living.” It can be easily found on accessories, especially necklaces, nowadays. Fun fact: Elvis Presley, wore a pendant with that same symbol during various shows. Canadian rapper Drake did the same for the cover of Vibe magazine in 2010.

7.

Reddit users have unveiled another mystery. This symbol represents the Muladhara chakra, also known as the Root Chakra, one of the 7 primary chakras according to Hindu tantrism. According to this school of thought, this energy point is located at the base of the spine and it’s symbolized by a red, 4-petaled lotus with a yellow square at its center (maybe that’s why the bracelet is red as well).

6.

Whoever made this discovery got it right. The symbol with a black and yellow background, with 3 diagonal red lines, appears to represent the emblem of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) from the United States.

5.

The owner of this earring wasn’t able to find any Mayan symbol that looks like this, as the seller told her when she bought it. Is it a sun or a seashell? Well, one guess is that the design represents one of the emblems worn by the Zerg, a fictional race from a game called StarCraft, by Blizzard Entertainment. It looks similar, don’t you think? We’re just not sure if the owner was very happy to learn that her earring isn’t some cool Mayan symbol.

4.

Fans of Netflix’s Dark will undoubtedly find this symbol very familiar. It’s a Triquetra, a Celtic symbol that ended up taking on different meanings as years went by. It is used as an ornamental design in architecture and in medieval manuscript illumination. Its original meaning is unknown, but it seems to have religious connotations. It is also used sometimes as a symbol of love in claddaghs and other wedding or engagement rings.

Interestingly enough, this symbol is also popular in Asia. Buddhists in different parts of the continent such as China, Korea and Japan have known it for years.

3.

Could it be that Reddit users found a pendant that looks just like that one for sale online? In fact, this symbol represents the letter Dair (ᚇ) in Ogham, an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language and later what’s been called nowadays Old Irish. The letters of the Oghamic alphabet were traditionally named after different plants and trees, so “Dair” also means “Oak.”

2.

In the past, jewelry brand J & C Ferrara used to sell pendants like the one pictured above. Today, they have become vintage accessories that you can find on auction sites. You can also get replicas from online stores. At first, it may be difficult to guess the message hidden in the pendant, but perhaps the photo below will help to clarify the idea. The symbol hides the English message, “I love you.” This grandfather was definitely loved by whoever gave him that pendant!

1.

The tie tack above, as a Reddit user mentioned, actually has the symbol of the IEEE, an acronym representing the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, created in the United States from the merger of 2 previous organizations: AIEE (American Institute of Electrical Engineers) and IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers).

The logo from the IEEE was developed in 1963 and “borrowed” parts of the logos from the 2 previous organizations. From the AIEE logo, the organizers borrowed the “kite” format and the arrows in the center were inspired by the IRE symbol.

We love to see how certain objects have very interesting hidden meanings, how about you? Do you have an object that has a symbol with an unknown meaning? Don’t hesitate to post it in the comments!