SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It's awards season again with the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild, the Oscars all coming up. There's also a brand-new prize this year, but don't look for Joan Rivers on the red carpet.
Our math guy, Keith Devlin, joins us now from studios of Stanford University, where he's also a professor. Keith, thanks very much for being back with us.
KEITH DEVLIN, BYLINE: Oh, nice to be with you again, Scott. And a Happy New Year to you.
SIMON: And Happy New Year to you, my friend. What's this new prize Stanford's giving out?
DEVLIN: It's the Symbol of the Year Award. It's awarded - for the first time, this year - by Stanford's Symbolic Systems program. And the winner is - da, da, da! The percentage sign.
SIMON: (SOUNDITE OF SIMON CLAPPING)
DEVLIN: (LAUGHTER)
SIMON: I'm standing, too, at the same time.
DEVLIN: I'm sure you are.
SIMON: But the percentage sign, not the @ sign that's in every email message?
DEVLIN: Here's what the rules said. It said, the symbol of the year need not be new to this year - that being 2012 - but should have achieved widespread cultural importance during the year. A symbol is both used and understood to represent a concept, object, location, event or linguistic unit.
So first of all, it doesn't have to be a written symbol. It could be something like a flag or a salute, or a person, or the NPR logo - anything that symbolizes anything else, would be a symbol. And the reason the percentage sign - which sort of seems boring, in a sense; it's an old sign - the reason that was voted number one, and here was the citation: For continued protest about the 99 percent and the 1 percent, to Mitt Romney's 47 percent remark, to the fiscal cliff debate; the percent sign appeared throughout 2012 on banners and in headlines. Its presence was a constant reminder that income, wealth distribution and tax brackets had become the main focus of U.S. politics. So there you are.
SIMON: Are there any runners-up for whom we should feel sorry?
DEVLIN: And of the 20 others that were submitted, the ones that came highest was that big stone thingy in Mexico; the Piedra del Sol that was discovered, I think, in the late 1800s.
SIMON: I'm sorry, did I just hear a Stanford professor say stone thingy?
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(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: Keith Devlin, our math guy here on WEEKEND EDITION; a professor at Stanford University, speaking from their studios. Thanks so much for being with us, Keith.
DEVLIN: OK, my pleasure Scott, as always.
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SIMON: This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.