Badges and Terms

[dennis grace]

Greetings, Cosyns,

Lyonel ici, in my role as herald baiter. ;^>

In response to Lee Forgue's--

>> The second badge for the Chirurgeons also featured a red cross, and was
>> withdrawn after it was discovered that the Red Cross International was
>> vehement about pursuing trademark infringement (and had become aware of our
>> use of something resembling their symbol when an SCA chirurgeon who also
>> worked in a medical capacity wore SCA regalia to an international Red Cross
>> conference -- we were asked to stop using the Red Cross at that time).

William FitzBane opines:

>Ahhh!! I knew there had to be a good reason for not using the cross. I
>never knew it was considered a trade mark though. Oh well, too late to
>worry about it now...

Nah.  Not a "good reason" at all.  Of course the Red Cross isn't a
trademark.  If it were, the Geneva Convention couldn't have required that it
be used as one of the four accepted DO NOT BOMB--HUMANITARIAN AID STATION
symbols.  Boy scouts use the red cross on their merit badges.  First aid
kits are labeled with red crosses.  This is yet another example of our
heralds being overly sensitive to the claims of outsiders.  The red cross
probably doesn't give a healthy crap whether we use the symbol, but even if
they were, why should we care?

And a fleam as the first aid symbol?  Gods, could we be any MORE grisly?
How 'bout a disemboweled peasant as a symbol, perhaps?

This change is just as silly as fearing conflicts between SCA heraldry and
real (he says with a wink in Galen's direction) heraldry.

Of course, I never could see the need for chirurgeons in the first place, so
why should I care.  (No, I'm not attacking chirurgeons--well, not all of
them.  Just the one's who aren't qualified to bandage their own boo-boos.
And, yes, all you would-be tattletales [no names, no names] I am aware of
HRH's affiliations.  Of course, SHE's a medical professional. Her I trust.)
Until I get lost on another such tangent, je reste

Le votre pour vous servir,

Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace, recovering herald
_____________________________
Dennis Grace
University of Texas at Austin
English Department
Recovering Medievalist
amazing at mail.utexas.edu

Things are more like they are today than they have ever been before.
                                                  --Dwight D. Eisenhower

(Don't Republicans say just the cutest things?)