Welcome to AirNmenky's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

We don't often think about the origins of the symbols we see every day.

For example, the ampersand, which we use in place of the conjunction and, is comprised

of the letters in the Latin word et, which translates to, and, in English.

The at symbol, or the A, with a circle around it in an email address today, was once used

by accountants to mean, at the rate of.

It was invented by monks centuries ago to help them transcribe books much faster by reducing

the number of pen strokes.

However, there aren't more modern symbols that have permeated our culture as well.

There's the mermaid in the Starbucks cup, the Nordic letters for H&B that make up the

Bluetooth logo, and another symbol with an unexpected origin.

It all started with a man named Roland.

Roland was born on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts in 1822.

His Quaker family could actually trace their roots back to one of the nine original English

families that came to Nantucket in the mid-17th century.

And just as his forefathers had left England to explore their freedom, so too did Roland.

He set out on a whaling ship called the Emily Morgan when he was 15 years old.

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