Seriously? The symbol for women -- in pink no less -- for Venus. I know that it's also the symbol for the planet Venus (from a time when there were so few planets that they could each have a symbol), but no one uses it for that purpose any more. A picture of the planet Venus? Out of the question!
Curious what you mean by "from a time when there were so few planets that they could each have a symbol." There are currently only 8 planets. Just 8. In the entire universe. That being said, though, the best symbol is Pluto's - ♇.
LOL. Yes, I include exoplanets when I talk about planets. Do a poll and I think you'll find that almost everyone does. How do I know that? Look up "planet" in the dictionary. "a celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit around a star." Do you think more people use the IAU definition, or the definition in almost every dictionary?
Plattitude, there is a difference between "the Sun" and "the sun". Just like there is a difference between "the Moon" and "the moon". I agree with you that sumguy's reasoning is off, but so is yours.
I should have capitalized Sun in my post, but honestly, I think the difference you mentioned is encapsulated in the use of a definite article 'the sun' instead of the indefinite 'a sun.'
It is like saying that there are only 69 Cities in the world, which is true... if we're using the UK's letters patent/royal charter definition of a city. I was hoping my comments would be taken as poking fun at the IAU's definition, which as @sumguy pointed out is ridiculously narrow, especially as they have no definition for exoplanets!
It's still referred to as the 'Venus symbol'. That's what it's actually called. It came to be used for women because Venus was a goddess and representative of the ancient Greek and Roman ideal for women (e.g., beautiful and a bit flighty). Also, it starts with V.
I do agree that showing the venus symbol in pink is misleading. And leads you into areas related to female. My mind went like ah the venus symbol, but, it is pink hm what could it stand for vemale doesnt start with a v nor does veminine, maybe there is some sort of female protest group starting with a v using that symbol? Well, I dont know any, lets try venus for the hell of it to rule it out. Ow... it IS accepted..
That symbol is called the Venus Symbol. The two standard sex symbols are the Mars symbol ♂ (often considered to represent a shield and spear) for male and Venus symbol ♀ (often considered to represent a bronze mirror with a handle) for female, derived from astrological symbols, denoting the classical planets Mars and Venus, respectively. They were first used to denote the effective sex of plants (i.e. sex of individual in a given crossbreed, since most plants are hermaphroditic) by Carl Linnaeus in 1751.[3
You may be thinking of Mars. Venus' symbol is her handmirror, Mars' symbol is a shield and spear. Jupiter (Roman equivalent of Zeus) is a symbol of an eagle.
Hah I doubt pokemon is the source of the word visegrip. There are pliers called vise-grip or vice grip (locking pliers) and they are definitely not named after pokemons ;)
The International Astronomical Union defined a planet as an object that:
orbits the sun
has sufficient mass to be round, or nearly round
is not a satellite (moon) of another object
has removed debris and small objects from the area around its orbit
To be a planet, it must orbit OUR SUN. Celestial bodies orbiting other stars are Exoplanets.
I should have capitalized Sun in my post, but honestly, I think the difference you mentioned is encapsulated in the use of a definite article 'the sun' instead of the indefinite 'a sun.'
It is like saying that there are only 69 Cities in the world, which is true... if we're using the UK's letters patent/royal charter definition of a city. I was hoping my comments would be taken as poking fun at the IAU's definition, which as @sumguy pointed out is ridiculously narrow, especially as they have no definition for exoplanets!
Have some ize in your drink?