The meaning of "Zow"

So just what is a "Zow"? The "Zow" is a fictional Greek letter. It is represented as an S with no curves, the mirror image of a Z, or as a Sigma without the base. It is pronounced "Zow", hence the romanization (as any standard types fail to include it, this is how it is most often seen).

"Zow" came to be my working name as a joke in Freshman Calculus. My good friend Darren was kidding me about having a first name that was just S (the remainder of it has long since, thankfully, been lost) and I retorted by stating that it wasn't an S, but actually a "Zow". As this was Freshman Calc, it only made sence that the "Zow" was a Greek letter. After that it just kind of stuck as a good working name in my two primary fields of work: in computing it means a short username that's quick to type and the actual character is a good signature for my photography.

So how does it fit into the Greek Letters? It is midway between Sigma and Zeta.

And the big question, what does it mean? It stands for the incomplete or partial sum. Hence the sigma that's missing a piece. It represents humanity as one of the most amazing things about humans is their ability to use only a part of the information and still function fully, hence the basis for heurstics. Further, it represents the sum of one's life experiences with the consideration that there is more to come.

Some other fine examples of "Zow"s are the Specialized symbol and the logo for the movie The Saint .

It has also been pointed out to me that KISS uses "Zow"s in their logo:

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This page created and copyright by

"Zow" Terry Brugger

Last modified: Sun Jun 18 14:04:04 PDT 2000