Quote:
Originally Posted by noreen
Forget her, Marilyn Monroe. Sal.
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Yeh, I was being silly. But both Monroe and Lohan have or had serious issues and yet managed to be famous. Which leads to the question—what is an icon?
It starts as a religious work of art:
Icon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But the meaning intended here is broader:
icon - definition of icon by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
Or, if you don't want to click on that, a number of definitions are listed from various sources; here's some:
1. also i·kon (kn)
a. An image; a representation.
b. A representation or picture of a sacred or sanctified Christian personage, traditionally used and venerated in the Eastern Church.
2. An important and enduring symbol: "Voyager will take its place ... alongside such icons of airborne adventure as The Spirit of St. Louis and [the] Bell X-1" (William D. Marbach).
3. One who is the object of great attention and devotion; an idol: "He is ... a pop icon designed and manufactured for the video generation" (Harry F. Waters).
4. Computer Science A picture on a screen that represents a specific file, directory, window, option, or program.
Or another from the Oxford Dict.:
1. (Christianity / Eastern Church (Greek & Russian Orthodox)) a representation of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint, esp one painted in oil on a wooden panel, depicted in a traditional Byzantine style and venerated in the Eastern Church
2. an image, picture, representation, etc.
3. a symbol resembling or analogous to the thing it represents
4. a person regarded as a sex symbol or as a symbol of a belief or cultural movement
5. (Electronics & Computer Science / Computer Science) a pictorial representation of a facility available on a computer system, that enables the facility to be activated by means of a screen cursor rather than by a textual instruction
[from Latin, from Greek eikōn image, from eikenai to be like]
So Marilyn and Lindsey would qualify under Oxford's 4th definition.
If we wanted to limit it to design icons—like Airstream—that would include—
Empire State Building
Thermos (DeWare) Bottle
Golden Gate Bridge
Model T
Stickley furniture
Frank L. Wright's Prairie Style architecture
This list can go on and on, but it's time for lunch.
Gene