Q&A: Why is it called the Red Cross?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, cross purposes…

Q: Hi AWC, would you like to hear a fun fact?

A: Sure, why not.

Q: May 8th is International Red Cross Day.

A: What an incredibly fun fact.

Q: I did actually have a question though. Where did the name come from? Did they just take it from the hospital symbol?

A: Aha! You’ve fallen into the trap so many make! It’s actually the other way round.

Q: Other way round? It still looks like a cross.

A: Noooo, the origin story! Hospitals got it FROM the Red Cross.

Q: Ohhhh. So how old is it?

A: Maybe not as old as you think. After all, while healing goes back to the dawn of civilisation, the idea of putting a bunch of healers conveniently in one building is only a few hundred years old.

Q: And it makes for excellent television. Noah Wyle has certainly benefitted.

A: Anyway, the International Committee of the Red Cross was founded in 1863 in Switzerland – designed to provide humanitarian aid to people in wars or disasters. It only took one year for the red cross symbol to be universally adopted.

Q: But why a red cross?

A: They reversed the flag of Switzerland!

Q: Oh wow, so they did.

A: It was in part to honour the founders of the organisation. The motif is easy to spot and communicates neutrality. 

Q: Switzerland and neutrality – synonymous!

A: Absolutely. In an argument between two people, a third person might declare “I’m Switzerland” to let people know they’re not taking sides.

Q: Unless the argument is about toblerones.

A: Perhaps.

Q: Okay, so what’s the Red Crescent?

A: It’s essentially the same thing – same goals, same motivations and governed by the same body. In 1906, the Ottoman Empire requested a different symbol for Muslim nations, because a cross does not always communicate neutrality for that part of the world. The Red Crescent was the answer to this. 

Q: I’m glad they didn’t get cross about it.

A: Ah yes, the adjective “cross” – such as “I’m so cross with you” – seems out of place with the definitions for a noun or verb. But it seems likely it came from shortening the word “across”, which of course means “intersecting, lying athwart each other”. 

Q: Athwart??

A: Yeah, it’s a good word, right? And while it might seem archaic, it’s still in the dictionaries. Macquarie lists it as “from side to side (often in an oblique direction): transversely. Perversely; awry; wrongly. In opposition to; contrary to.”

Q: So to be cross was to quite literally to put your nose out of joint!

A: Yep, that works. And that saying dates all the way back to 1581. In fact, if your nose did get out of joint, an ambulance with a red cross on it might come rushing.

Q: Full circle moment!

A: We aim to please.

Q: So, to recap, the Red Cross took their name and symbol from reversing the Swiss flag in 1863. The Red Crescent works in the same way throughout Muslim regions, with both providing neutral humanitarian aid in conflict or disaster zones

A: Nice!

Q: Time to go; I’m getting cross-eyed!

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