[Credits, References, and More] www.lemmi.no/p/the-universal-s

Imagine we land on mars and we find the S on a rock

"dOn'T dRaW tHaT, tHaT iS Is A gAnG sIgHn" says every 3rd grade teacher ever

What shocked me the most is that everyone learned this at a young age, nobody I know has ever learnt this at an older age

I grew up in the most obscure of places, a very small town in East Malaysia. In the early 2000s, we barely had any access to the world, but everyone drew this symbol. I had never seen any of these possible sources (Suzuki symbol, bands' Ss, etc). It truly is a universal symbol, somehow implanted in our brains for us to draw as soon as we know how to write with a pencil. 😂😂

*The S stands for simulation and it’s the logo for the company who made the simulation that we live in*

*Aliens show up on our planet* “Hey we know that symbol!”

"But in my delusions of grandeur, i brushed it off as the failings of lesser men, and into the abyss I went." I had to stop the video and look up the long dead writer who I assumed you were quoting. But searches only return your video. Brilliant writing, truly.

If you have a squared notebook and you are doodling during class, it just feels natural to make and combine lines in this way on those squares.

Doesn't upload for months, then: here's this symbol that I've been researching for 5 years...

Deadass this dude spent 5 years looking at the graffiti S

I grew up in Hermosa Beach California in the late 60ies. That "S" I remember drawing as a skater/surfer in the DOG TOWN era. For me, it stood for just that. SKATER/SURFER in the SO CAL area. Skateboarding and surfing was a way of life. Although I did not skate with the DogTown crew, we did cross paths a number of times. That's where I got the symbol from.

This is the kind of mystery that the guys who collaborated on the SCP project would be right up their alley. A self-perpetuating idea/meme that germinates itself in others spontaneously and seemingly without rhyme or reason.

Imagine dying, going to heaven and asking about the S, and God said I used to draw that in middle school

Like so he can see.... the symbol goes far back as 1533 where it can be seen in the painting “the ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the younger ... you can see the symbol if you zoom in to the table . The “S” appears sideways

The universal S is also in the ambassador painting, which was drawn in the 1500s.

Interesting. I remember seeing this a lot on graffiti back in the 70s in NYC and in my family we'd doodle it a lot because our last name starts with S. I used to make similar block letters to write out the rest of my name sometimes, making signs with my Crayolas on construction paper to hang around my room. I feel like since it even spread through countries that don't use the Latin alphabet, it was probably just a geometric symbol that's been around for ages.

In a 1500’s painting called “the ambassador”, you can see a small “s” on the middle. Saw this on another comment, re-posting it in case it gets buried under other comments.

The symbol of my people What does it mean It means we're bored in math

Seeing it as a chain made me think of one thing: tablet weaving. Tablet weaving is a very ancient way of weaving trim using cards (or tablets) with holes in each corner which the warp thread is passed through. The pattern is created by turning the cards as you weave. All those long strips of interlacing patterns likely have some anchor in tablet weaving, and the interlocking S is one of the simplest designs to make. I believe it’s even a twist neutral pattern (which basically just means you can repeat it over and over without getting a tangled mess).

I’m still getting flashbacks to my elementary school years, where you’d see this symbol on every other persons notebooks, binders, and backpacks, and someone actually took the time to try to show me how to draw it. That was a weird experience

This S may be the most successful meme ever.

"I am so done with this topic ....but then, in 2021, someone made an interesting discovery."

I do have to wonder if the "Cool S" (as those in my circle called it in the late 80s) is simple enough to arise spontaneously. I'm pretty sure that I saw it drawn before I drew it myself, so it was certainly a "meme" in my case, but how many times and places might it have originated, independently of one another?

One of my friends taught me how to draw this. Every time I changed schools, I felt like it was my destiny to show it the other kids. That’s how my entire classes, if they didn’t know this symbol, learned how to draw this.

I got suspended when I drew it at school because they said it was a gang sign

If I'm ever framed for a crime, I want this guy to be the lead lawyer.

If you google Celtic braid one of the images contains this pattern. Perhaps you already knew this, but worth a shot. A lot of the Celtic knots are simplistic, so I could see this as a potential for easy weaving

Summer 23, my two sons and I see the ‘universal S’ drawn in the sand at Banff harbour, Scotland. Newly 62, it means nothing to me but both in their early 40’s, they discuss it. They know it, call it ‘The Pointy S.’ Hence we arrive home and watch your post. Stunning research, amazing determination on your part to find the origin!

The dude who came up with that S must be either crying or laughing his ass off that no one found out it's true origin

I love how he took time to vandalise the Danish flag on the pixel board.

When I drew this in the 90’s, I associated it in my head with skaters. Loved drawing it!

The work you put in the investigation is incredible, congratulations. And the editing is excelent.

This guy spent literally 5 years researching and uploading a single video about some symbol where no normal person even question its origin. Mad props to Lemmino

Imagine being the person who created this s and no one believed you when you said it.

I keep coming to this video to rewatch from time to time and I gotta say the amount of research and digging is godly, top tier content .

Someone get this man a new life! He spent his trying to find the origin of the super S.

my man actually spent a fuckton of time trying to find the origin of the universal s. proud of you

Can we pay respect to this man who browsed the internet heavily just to find the origin of this "S"?

i always forget how funny this video is, then i'll come back to it a while later and reminisce

14:48 that’s how I remember drawing it.. six straight lines with only two diagonal ones.. Early 80’s Longisland NY.

Just watched a 20 minute video on the letter S. Mom would be so proud

You shouldn't be meddling in affairs you do not understand. You already know too much. We will be there shortly.

One of my favourite lemminos videos. So effortlessly funny written, love it

Thank you for all of your hard work and research!

I swear, if time travel is ever possible, I'm gonna go back to the stone age and teach early humans to draw The S in caves just for the lols

When you started mapping out what countries the S symbol showed up in, I was half expecting the distribution would form another S shape.

This was actually the first video of yours that I found in my KZfaq recommendations and I immediately recognized this symbol with a deep-deep nostalgia, saying to myself «oh, I used to draw this thing a lot when I was in school». These are the memories from early to mid 2000's, I'm from Russia and I have absolutely no idea where did I first see The Universal S. Feels like one day it just popped up in my head out of nowhere while I was doodling. Cool vid!

this was such a cool video! love the music choice and editing style!!

Any of y’all also had that one kid in school who claimed he came up with the symbol himself ? 😂

I swear every primary school thought they invented it

I love this format of video that is based on your own process of research for videos! So interesting

I drew it back when i was younger, as did my older brother. I believe it's originally taken from the longer 3-line chain pattern, which at the age was the easiest way to draw something that felt like an illusion - the never ending, intertwining chain. Then you just sort of let your minder while drawing/experiment with it, and before long, you realise that if you angle to tops together you can create an easy to draw, symmetrical block 'S' ~ which was one of the hardest block letters to draw, especially in those younger years as a child.

The aliens from Area 51: “oh hey we know that symbol”

This channel went from 2009 memes, to M rated Top 10s, and now finding Aliens and Symbols I'm glad to have been here since the beginning

This video got me interested in r/place in 2022 (this was before April Fools 2022), and my eventual involvement in the "rolace" alliance. Thank you for creating this video, I found the whole thing to be very interesting.

ive once heard somewhere that the ancient Romans used to draw the symbol too. side note: when i saw kill roy i literally got chills because i drew it a few times not knowing where it came from thinking it was just something i made up. but now i kind of have a vivid memory seeing it on the internet before. this gave me chills because i never used to draw the S i did know of it and thought it was a symbol for some youtubers or esports team but i never drew it until someone did it in-front of me.

At 5:05, I genuinely thought that the countries in red would allign to make an S symbol. The music made it so dramatic!

the symbol goes as far back as 1533. Search for the painting _"The Ambassadors",_ by Holbein. The symbol is in the middle of the table cloth.

The passion poured into this video is evident

A version of it appears in a painting from the 1500s and I've engraved trophies from very early 1800s and they had the long pattern version and the 's' shape on its own as part of their decorations.

*5 years later* *Sees an universal S* "And I took it personally."

Actually the "S" has appeared in a painting made in 1533 called "The Ambassadors" made by Hans Holbein the Younger. Now this would be the earliest sighting of the "S".

Amazing video, you are one of the most hard working people I've seen in this platform. The amount of research and effort you put into these video's is astonishing.

Great vid. My dad has shown me examples of this S he drew in the late 50’s. (UK, West Country) He doesn’t know where he got the inspiration from. But it is exactly like your one (but with the both ends of S with horizontal, not diagonal. But with 6 parallel vertical lines the same etc.) He is an artist, (mainly oils/landscapes), and is well read on artists. So I’ve asked him to search through his huge library of art books. He even did a fair amount of sign painting in his early career. So he really is a good contender to have an obscure book/reference that may contain a more accurate origin. Certainly the S is not a child of the 60’s 70’s 80’s or 90’s. (Like it appears on first viewing) It really maybe much older and have Celtic origins possibly.

Lemmino has the perfect amount of time between videos where you forget about him then you get the notification and remember this amazing channel exists. Makes my day every time.

If humanity ever establishes a stellar empire this should be our symbol

Delightfully witty script about something we've all done at one time or another. Down the rabbit hole out of simple, raging curiosity. Unfortunately I seem to have missed the pointy S until now, but it won't be forgotten.

How did this video pop up on my feed, and why the hell did I watch the whole thing and subscribe?? Now I'm binging on LEMMiNO videos omg

This guy knows how to research...

bruh

LEGEND. I'm grateful that someone did ridiculously exactly the right amount of research on this topic. Bravo.

The story of the S reminds me of the Swa stika. Trust me it makes sense. Before it became synonymous with the German empire in the late 1800s, this symbol was used across a number of cultures all over the world to represent the sun, fertility, hope, usually the sun. And I am serious about it being universal. You can find it etched onto Mayan Ruins and Japanese temples. Which makes sense, because its easy to draw. The Universal S probably is ubiquitous for that same reason. It's easy to draw. I learned to draw it by watching my class mate draw it by looking over their shoulder. It was easy to learn. Then I showed a ton of other people how to draw it.

I found this S carved into a vase when I was sacking Rome in 410 AD

This was why Lemmino was gone for at least 2 months... *an S*

Props to you, sir, on the research (it's an artform and definitely is a lot of work). The rabbithole was worth going down. 😊I am looking forward to your other works. Thank you!✊️🖖

Amazing! None of the information in this video will in any way alter my actions or behaviour or mindset, but yet it was fascinating and entertaining to watch and your dedication is admirable 👏👏👏

I love how this "S" associated with teenage rebellion/graffiti possibly originated from the victorian era.

cavemen: "i created a wheel!" "I made fire!" ..... "Hey guys I made this cool S"

i love how so many of us have grown up taking part in an ancient and mysterious human tradition without knowing it

The S thing was mindblowing enough but the part that really shook me was when you showed 'kilroy' towards the end of the vid. Suddenly I had a flashback: I must've been a fifth grader travelling in the USA when I saw that graffitied somewhere. I had no idea what it was or anything about it but I remember that I started drawing it in places, my table at school, the car window when it was wet etc. I guess there's something about these symbols or "memes" if you like that attracts people and 'The Universal S' and 'Kilroy' are some of many more symbols that do so, honestly I doubt that each source you found of the 'Universal S' (graffiti, Mechanical Graphics, Stussy) are related to one another, I believe that people end up stumbling onto it again and again which makes extra sense when you think about all the places where this 'S' was found: graffiti artists, Mechanical Graphics (1890) and Stussy all specialize in trying to create their own quirky fonts and after a lot of time spent doing so they all came upon this special 'S'. So to sum things up I believe each one of these... I'll call them memes can be researched independently and I believe each one has a different story to how it became so infectious, you could probably write books on these subjects but I'm gonna stop right here because I really ended up going off the rails with this comment.

LEMMiNo spent 5 years researching the origin of an S shape. Truly a mad man

Imagine if the “S” was included in the golden record

I will add, even my mother and grandmother know these symbols, and the former grew up in the Soviet Union, while the latter never left a tiny Russian village. This thing is truly universal.

Coming back to this video, breakthroughs in the search for the origin of the Universal S has now placed it as far back as 500 B.C! It was used to represent worship to the Sun in ancient Greece. That means the Universal S is at least 2,500 years old.

That’s a cool looking “S”

I used to draw that on my notebooks, and my mother would say "I did that too when I was young" She was born in 1949 in France. So it's definitely from before the graffiti things; maybe that old book is the answer. I don't think we'll ever know.

Once in a while, people ask that "if you could go back in time and do something, what would it be?" I now know that I would go back in time and etch the universal S on a rock wall just to mess with Lemmino a bit.

"I brushed it off as failed attempts of lesser men". The self awareness is humorous to say the least.

"What was your thesis on for your phd?" LEMMiNO: "The Universal S"

Man i LOVE this channel. Give this man an award

This video is exactly why I am binging your content 😂

Evacuate KZfaq Engage all defenses and Get this man a Netflix show

Life is a simulation. And that's the logo of the company that runs it.

I love you for making this video and this is exactly why I love the internet too! ❤

This guys video is great. Jokes, graphics, story, all of it.

The “Univeral S” is definitely one of the questions that should be on a test for aliens about humans.

Video ends with the concept of memes. Top10Memes have come full circle

In Russia we have something similar, but not actually S. We were making "kosichka's" (braids) at school. It was same drawn but across all sheet, like actual braid

I reckon its a perfect example of convergent thinking, hundreds of people with no relation or contact with each other came up with it on their own and taught it to their friends, who taught it to their friends until the whole world knew it and all said it came from somewhere else.