Deconstructing HCN's Icons

This page is now stale. See here for the current icon glossary.

Icons... they started out as a joke, became an institution. To the uninitiated (and often to the initiated), they can be cryptic and confusing. Hint: hover your mouse over them. If that fails, look here. The icons are presented in roughly the order they appeared on the site.

Pigged
The mini pig refers to comments from the previous thread that were posted after the pig arrived, i.e. after a new post was made by our gracious host. This is often used to get closure on a previous discussion, or to reiterate something they found worth sharing.

Currently Smoking Cannibis
The name comes from a sorely missed commenter by that handle, who had many here seeking new keyboards (see below).

In Vino Veritas
Real French Sparkly
The Dude Abides
No, that's not a glass of milk, it's a white russian. Hey, careful, man, there's a beverage here!

Tinfoil Hat
You do realize they're listening in on your brain waves, don't you? Tin foil is a simple, cheap solution.

The Red Pill
From the infamous Red Pill/Blue Pill scene from The Matrix.

The Blue Pill
See The Red Pill. Alternatively, the "Little Blue Pill". Might be some connection there...

The Purple Pill
AKA Prilosec. For heartburn.

Elmo!
The current color of the stock market's indicators, i.e. negative.

It's not easy being green
The current color of the stock market's indicators, i.e. positive.

Black Star Ranch
The name of the ranch belonging to one of our regulars. See where bribery will get you?

Nothingburger
An issue that doesn't really have any meaningful impact. Fluff.

Needs More Cowbell
From the SNL skit with Blue Oyster Cult, Will Ferrell, and Christopher Walken.

Steel Toed Bunny Slipper
Doris Dungey, aka Tanta, was CR's coblogger until shortly before she passed away. She did not suffer fools or miscreants well, and she had a fearsome, rapier wit. It was rumored she wore bunny slippers with steel toes, and would use them on those exhibiting childish behavior in the comments. She is dearly, dearly missed.

Green Shoots
Indications of economic recovery.

Yellow Shoots
Indications of economic non recovery.

Rant

Coffee
Swill - er- Dunkin Donuts Coffee
Burnt Swill - er - Starbucks Coffee
Usually used as a morning greeting, for obvious reasons. Why three kinds? This bunch is opinionated about their coffee...

Nytol
Sound it out?

Nemo's Monkey
Rumor has it that Nemo has a monkey sitting at a keyboard with an embedded chip in its head, awaiting new posts from CR. This is the only plausible explanation for his notoriously witty firstiness.

Squirrel!
Many an evening has been passed here swapping squirrel recipes, as we discuss the End of Days.

Does the FDIC Order Anchovies?
Running joke: the best way to peg the FDIC's next bank closure is to watch the pizza parlors.

Got Popcorn?
This was Neil's signature, representing the attitudes of many here feeling resigned to watching the barn burn.

Where's MY pony?
If you aren't daddy's favorite, you won't be getting a pony. In case you've been in a cave for the last three years, the banks are daddy's favorite, and you are not.

I drink your MILKSHAKE!
There Will Be Blood

Falling Knife
If you've never heard this investment phrase, try here.

Dooooooooooooooom!!!
The HCN rally cry. Well, after HCN itself of course.

Do Not Feed The Troll
Words to live by here. Sadly, many don't heed them.

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Hopium

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, bacon and spam
If you see any here, let me know!

It's a chopper, baby
Referring to Ben Bernanke's famous helicopter speech.

Pitchforks and Torches

In glod we trust

Vampire Squid from Hell
Goldman Sachs.

My Head Just Exploded

Hi Ho Silver, Away!

Silence is Golden Brown
This refers to the uncanny change in behavior exhibited by polemics after attending White House roast beef dinners.

Rose Colored Glasses

Brown Pants
Old joke.

Bic Flick
For those of you who never attended a Foghat concert: before cellphones, people expressed appreciation of a musical act by sparking their bic lighter. Why they had lighters in their possession at the time is no one's business but their own.

Yap Stone
A rather inconvenient form of currency.

Snark
An indicator that someone was being sarcastic. For those of you wondering, the icon is a snark missile.

Just Pullin' Yer Leg

Tap Your Heels Together Three Times
There's no place like home.

Red Herring

Fat Cat

Double Dip

You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Damn you all to hell!
From Planet of the Apes. I find myself thinking this often these days.

This Really Sucks!

Got Concrete?

Fixed It For Ya

Kool-Aid

There is no spoon
Another Matrix reference suggesting your experienced reality is an illusion created by others.

Wright Model B
See here.

New Keyboard
Made someone laugh so hard they spilled on their keyboard.

I'm Lovin It!
Mcmansion. Get it? Huh? Huh? Huh?

I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
C'mon, you haven't seen Casablanca?!?

Familyblogfamilyblogfamilyblog

No one 17 and under admitted

Black Swan

Prozac

A Very Expensive, Fragrant, and Colorful Floral Bouquet

Blame it on the snow
Sales figures are down. Must be the snow.

Cold Turkey
Yeah, it's ugly.

Kabuki Theater

In Godwin We Trust
Watch those Hitler references...

Chip Me
I'm resigned to losing my privacy. Just install a chip in my head.

Ruh-roh
Scooby rooby roo!

Blame it on the Oil
Sales figures are down. Must be the oil spill.

Now back to the yacht race
Refers to Tony Hayward's epic PR fail during the gulf oil crisis.

Economics is hard
Signs point to yes.

Oh, I Love Trash!
Om-nom-nom-nom
Maybe a bit too much Sesame Street.

A Tool for Elizabeth Warren
There are larger castration tools, but for her needs, this should suffice.

Cash, and no, I don't need a receipt
Useful code phrase for Our Times.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is paying for this all?
Get used to it.

I know nussing! NUSSING!
Hogan's Heros? Sergeant Schultz?

Got Your DOW 10K Hat?

Trial Balloon

Hu Knows
How do you deal toughly with your banker?

Dont Panic!
And don't forget your towel! From Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Shakes Tiny Fist of Fury
Useful when frustrated by another commenter beating one to a point, joke, etc.

Happy Halloween!

Zombie

Piggy Bank

To Infinity, and Beyond!

To the moon, Alice!
That would be Jackie Gleason, from The Honeymooners.

Lucky Charm
The (bad) luck of the Irish.

Anticipation...
See Nassim Taleb's remarks about the Fed.

That elusive pot of gold
More Irish sympathy.

American Apocalypse, by Nova
From Here To Babylon, by Pavel Chickikov
Every good salon has its celebrities.

Jump the shark
As in Fonzie jumps the shark.

Adj. 1) rampant - Extending unchecked: rampant corruption
This one was part of jumptheshark, but it made for a huge icon, and the circling shark has other uses...

Gaaw-aawl-ly!
Gomer Pyle, USMC

Catler!
Cats that look like Hitler. Because it's FUNNY, that's why.

He knows his master's voice
See

Crickets
All I can hear is crickets. Anyone here?

BtFD
Buy the F'n Dip.

Happy Birthday!!!

You're only as good as your last envelope
The Great American Sociopath, Tony Soprano. And sorry, yes, it was Silvio who delivered that (great) line. Watchoogoonado?
THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!
From Star Trek, TNG. As ResistanceIsFeudal eloquently put it:
It's an excellent and many-sided metaphor for, among other things, the post-9/11 world and especially our probable near future.
Any idiot can see that there are only four lights. The captors know this too. It's a psychological contest of wills determined to break the prisoner (and Picard is the almost too archetypal Hero of character, intelligence and discipline brought via torture, imposed austerity and operant conditioning to the brink of insanity in this episode) and it nearly succeeds.

It's a deep metaphor - taking away a person's ability to use logic and reason to determine reality for themselves by continual propaganda to convince them that black is white, or that there is an invisible or a watching their every move.

Ba-da-boom-TISH!
A rimshot. I wanted to do an Ed McMahon belly guffaw, but couldn't come up with a worthy icon.

Beyond Bankerdome
From the early days of the CR commentariat, with nods to Mad Max. Our nation's capitol seems a quite appropriate venue these days.

Quick, fetch a pail!
For those who are just here to see the barn burn. Or maybe to suggest we need a really, really, really big pail.

Why is there a watermelon there?
Some questions are better left unanswered.

Rule #3: Seatbelts
This is a five point Safety Restraint System. Highly recommended when buying extremely volatile short ETFs like SRS. Rule #3 is from the movie Zombieland.

Tales From the Coast
Tales From the Coast, by Jim Blackview, aka Bob Dobbs.

The first rule of kayaking is to not use it as your signature.
One of our locals wore me down. He also endeared himself by spending considerable free time picking up trash, and running our weekly bank failure poll. Not sure how he fared in the National Sucking at Kayaking Team Trials - you'll have to ask him.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
Really. It's true. Just ask this guy.

No Soup For YOU!
YouTube - The Best of The Soup Nazi

Lets break for coffee
See here: The FOMC Debates the Housing Bubble in 2005

Yaaaaawwwn

Do I look like Mrs. Obama to you?
See here: "Do I look like Mrs. Obama?"

Luuuuuu-Ceeeeee, you got some splainin to do!
Can't find the right clip, but she was a national treasure. Here's a take from one well known episode.
YouTube -

1) Denial 2) Anger 3) Bargaining 4) Depression 5) Acceptance
This is Elizabeth Kuebler-Ross, well known for her work on the 5 stages of grief. Which stage are we at now?

European Blond Spreads
With reference to CR's European Bond Spreads posts, where several posters played with the title. This is a tub of speisequark, a european, yellowish (aka blond), spread made from cheese curd. My apologies for this one.