Thanks for visiting the Anachronomicon.
Many common icons and symbols in use today have origins that may not be obvious to everyone. For instance, comparatively few people born this century will have had occasion to use an actual paper clip — while they will have seen one represent a digital attachment countless times.
This website is a collection of such icons and symbols, with simple explanations (and later, maybe photos of the objects in question) so that anyone can learn why, for example, your arrow turns into an hourglass sometimes. These explanations are true to the best of my knowledge, but I don’t claim to be any kind of authority on them.
This is a personal project of Devin Coldewey; all rights reserved. The pixel art is either mine, or in a few labeled cases from Susan Kare, the pioneering graphic artist who made the most familiar versions of many of these symbols. It is my understanding that it is fair use to reproduce these for personal and educational purposes.