Talk:Caduceus (disambiguation)

I think it's wrong to say that it's "confused with" the rod of Aescalpius. That implies that people looking at are making an error, and that if they only knew better they would see their mistake. It's not as simple as that.

For 100 years (in the USA at least), the medical profession has been using the symbol of two snakes around a rod as a symbol. Now, some may object to this usage on any of several grounds. But even if the decision years ago to adopt symbol was a mistake, that doesn't mean that people who see the symbol are making a mistake.

When an American sees wings, a rod, and two snakes (particularly on a military uniform), they know what that symbol is intended to mean; they know that it means medicine.

There are many words (and possibly other symbols) that have a usage that was the result of a questionable decision. Let's not blame the reader or viewer.

We can, however, point out that there are people who object to a certain word or symbol's usage. --Uncle Ed (talk) 15:34, 11 May 2010 (UTC)