Second Wind's Original Symbol

The first symbol used to represent Second Wind Running Club was an apposite if controversial Chinese character, 屁, pronounced "pee!", which means "wind (from bowels) or, colloquially, buttocks. Second Wind anticipated the current trend to adopt Chinese characters in amusing and often unintended ways. In this case the choice was an interesting and meaningful one, even if a number of club members proved unwilling to wear the word "fart" on their persons.

The character is apt on a number of levels.

1. Of the "winds" produced by the human body, those emanating from the buttocks are certainly the second (after those from the lungs), and thus the character symbolizes the "second" wind.

2. The character itself has an interesting etymology.

屁 has two components,

尸is pronounced like "sure." By itself it means "corpse" and comes from a picture of a seated person.

比is pronounced like "bee," and probably is a cue to the sound of the character. It means "compare" and comes from a picture of two people in a line, as in a road race.

So, the etymology of the character is also quite appropriate, and leads to some good advice.

If you wish to postpone becoming a corpse, you would be well advised to participate in road races.