This is not a menu

It's very interesting to see this icon spread so rapidly across mobile apps, sites, and other places in just the past few years.

A/B tests were done, statistics gathered, meanings drawn, blog posts written, and so on. But for what?

A few decades ago the usage of the word “Menu” wouldn’t exist as it does today within a digital space. Every person who practices a certain language plays a part in how words within it are used, and therefore what they mean, in context.

A symbol is the smallest component of a language system, and they too have accepted uses. Like words, they evolve, get redefined, and fade out of use.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this symbol.