Badges and Terms

Joel Schumacher jschumac at uns-dv1.jcpenney.com
Wed Jun 18 16:19:52 PDT 1997


> Actually there is a badge that certain people can wear: it is the badge for
> the office of Hospitaller/Chatlaine.
> 
> At demos and during an event, anyone who holds the office of Hospitaller
> should wear (quite proudly) the badge of his/her office

I know there's the desire to try to hide modern life, but these symbols,
are often cryptic drive me nuts.  A lot of this may boil down to
"newcomer" training though.

Maybe some of the newcomer's guides that have been put together have
this.  I wouldn't know.  At my first event, I was introduced to the
hospitaler and told she would have a "newcomer" handout.  She didn't
and after several attempts, I gave up.

But back to the symbols and labels the SCA dubs on officers.  Let's say
I'm at an event, I'm kind of new, and need medical attention.  Before
advice, like "ask somebody", follow me on this.  Maybe it's not an
emergency and I'm kind of shy and don't want people to make a fuss.

First off, I'm supposed to know that this "chiurgeon" sign I've passed by
several times (while looking for "first aid") is what I need.

Chiurgeon's not in, but somebody saw him/her at the list field - and
they've got their "badge" on!  Great!  Must be the universally known
symbol of a red cross, right?  Well, it does have some read, but it's
a circle.  Inside of this circle, there's a white, teardrop looking thing,
and inside of that there's what looks like an upside-down number 2.  Yeah,
after the red cross, that was my second guess.

C'mon.  Symbols or badges aren't going to work unless people know what
they mean.  Same goes for the labels of officers.  What's wrong with a
"medic", "nurse", or "first aid" sign?  Why not the universally recognized
red cross?  (Especially for something as serious as first aid).

And, (to further illustrate), I don't know what a "hospitaler" badge looks
like.  How many of you do? (a rhetorical question - no replies please)
Does this symbol convey "welcome", "i'm the one to talk to"?  Does it have
any words on it?  Like "Ask me about the SCA"?  Sure, that may sound
stupid, but if I walked up to a practice, it would be my invitation to
start talking to this person.
__________________________________________________________________________
Joel Schumacher                        JCPenney Co. - UNIX Network Systems
jschumac at uns-dv1.jcpenney.com          12700 Park Central Pl
(972) 591-7543                         Dallas TX  75251



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