How to read a source
Symbol lore is the internet’s worst swamp of confident invention. A heart that was never a silphium pod, a prescription mark that was never a prayer to Jupiter, a peace sign that was never a broken cross. The defence is not to omit those stories — readers arrive already carrying them — but to print them and then refuse them, in a form you can see at a glance.
Documented means a dated record, a named author, or a standards text. Wallis published the infinity sign in 1655; the Pittsburgh Poison Center commissioned Mr. Yuk in 1971; ISO 7010 registers its signs by number. These are checkable.
Traditional means long held within a tradition, with no primary record located. Almost every graphic etymology of an ancient character is traditional: the reading is standard, coherent, and a reconstruction. So is any inference the Institute makes itself — and when the judgement is ours, the source line says so rather than laundering it into fact.
Folk means widely repeated and unsupported. There are 18 of these on the site and each one is printed in full before it is refused, because a claim you cannot see is a claim you cannot correct.
The tally across 94 entries: 312 sourced claims — 240 documented, 54 traditional, 18 folk. A well-recorded symbol attracts confident folklore, and it is the record that lets you mark it. A documented designer does not make a documented entry.