In 1992, only days after the release of Windows 3.1, it was discovered that the character sequence "NYC" (a frequently used abbreviation for
New York City) in Wingdings was rendered as a
skull and crossbones symbol,
Star of David, and
thumbs up gesture. This was often interpreted as an
antisemitic message.
[8] Microsoft strongly denied this was intentional, and insisted that the final arrangement of the glyphs in the font was largely random. (The character sequence "NYC" in the later-released
Webdings font, in turn, was intentionally rendered as eye, heart, and city skyline, referring to the
I Love New York logo.
[9])
9/11 attacks (hoax)
The "Q33 NY" symbols typed out in Wingdings
After
September 11, 2001, an email was circulated claiming that entering "Q33 NY", which it claims is the flight number of the first plane to hit the
Twin Towers, or the address of the World Trade Center, in Wingdings would bring up a character sequence of a plane flying into two towers, followed by the skull and crossbones symbol and the Star of David.
[8] This is a
hoax: the flight numbers of the two airplanes that hit the towers were
American Airlines Flight 11 and
United Airlines Flight 175; the tail numbers were
N334AA and
N612UA.