I realize that I have chosen an avatar--the Greek letter lambda--that might offend some people. It is used (at times) in the gay community and I find it more peaceful and pleasant than the pink triangle (which was worn during WWII in the KZ camps). Here is some information about the lambda. I post it in light of the earlier avatar post I had posted. The following is from Joseph P. Goodwin, More Man Than You'll Ever Be: Gay Folklore and Acculturation in Middle America, (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989), p. 26: "The lowercase Greek letter, lambda, carries several meanings. First of all, it represents scales, and thus balance. The Greeks considered balance to be the constant adjustment necessary to keep opposing forces from overcoming each other. The hook at the bottom of the right leg of the lambda represents the action required to reach and maintain balance. To the Spartans, the lambda meant unity. They felt that society should never infringe on anyone's individuality and freedom. The Romans adopted the letter to represent `the light of knowledge shed into the darkness of ignorance.' Finally, in physics the symbol designates an energy exchange. Thus the lambda, with all its meanings, is an especially apt symbol for the gay liberation movement, which energetically seeks a balance in society and which strives through enlightenment to secure equal rights for homosexual people." From The Alyson Almanac ("Gay Symbols Throughout the Ages," pp 99-100): "The Greek letter lambda was chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance in 1970 to become a symbol of the gay movement. Its original militant associations have softened, and the symbol often appears on jewelry, as a sign that will go unrecognized by the uninitiated. the word has also been useful for organizations such as Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, as a way of expressing "lesbian and gay males" in a minimum of syllables." From The Big Gay Book ("What Do the Terms Mean?", pp 98-100): "The Lambda was designated the symbol of gay liberation by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970. It was adopted as the international symbol of gay liberation by the Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1974. The symbol was chosen because it stands for synergy -- the concept that the whole is greater than its independent parts -- according to some sources, or, according to others, because it is the letter "L" (for "Liberation") in the Greek alphabet." As you can see, its origins are somewhat ambiguous. Most of these explanations are post hoc, made up after the fact to be the most clever story possible. My favorite, which may or may not be true, is that lambda is the symbol used in physics to represent wavelength. Gays use it because gays belong to a "different wavelength."
i find your avatar very insulting and demand that everyone should be banned from the internet for life j/k bro. shine on you crazy diamond
i was wondering about the significance of your lambda av. i thought maybe you were in a sorority or something. after reading your explanation, i dont really see how it could be offensive to somebody. love and light ps, metro, yours isnt offensive, it's terribly cute.
Wasn't "Lambda Lambda Lambda" the fraternity of the nerds in the movie "Revenge of the Nerds?" Anyhow, it doesn't offend me. I feel that my cookie avatar may be offensive to the anorexics among us, though.
Cleanse your minds of evil. Heard of "spontaneous combustion"? God works in mysterious ways that sometimes look like the X-Files...
I think you're thinking about a Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit. The sorority was DELTA DELTA DELTA and when they answered the telephone, they'd say, "DELTA DELTA DELTA can I help ya help ya help ya?"
Yeah, but they first tried pledging the Lambda Lambda Lambda's. DuH! If you were a dork, you would have known that.
