Urban Legends Reference Pages: Rumors of War (Wingdings)

Legend: Typing particular letter combinations into Microsoft Word using Wingdings and Webdings fonts produces some eerie results.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001]

1. open MS word
2. type "NYC" in uppercase letters
3. change the font size to 72
4. change the font to webdings
5. change the font to wingdings

Apparently "q33ny" - supposed to be the flight number of one of the crashed planes - gives an aeroplane, two buildings, a skull and crossbones and the star of david. Again, no comment, although whether this is in fact the number of one of the planes seems unlikely.
I've heard a few people suggesting that this is a sign that Microsoft were involved in the terrorist attack.

Origins: The first set of instructions is a gimmick which has been known for years: Typing the letters NYC using the Webdings font in Microsoft Word (or similar application) produces, as shown below, an image of an eye, a heart, and a city skyline, which some people read as "I love New York" (although the last image could really be any big city skyline). Switching to the WingDings font produces an image of a skull and crossbones, a Star of David, and a thumbs-up symbol, read by some conspiracy-minded folks as a symbolic approval of the killing of Jews.

The coincidental arrangment of these symbols (and an accompanying conspiracy theory) was noted as far back as 1992 in a New York Post article:

ANTI-JEWISH CODE LURKS IN POPULAR SOFTWARE
One of the world's best-selling computer programs contains a secret anti-Semitic message apparently urging death to Jews in New York City.
A computer consultant discovered the diabolic message while installing Microsoft's new Windows 3.1 software for a client yesterday.
The consultant was testing a mailing-address use of the program when he noticed the letters "NYC" had been replaced by a hateful message - a skull and crossbones, the Star of David and an approving thumbs-up symbol.
Microsoft strongly denies any hidden message. Others disagree.
"There's no way it could be a random coincidence," said Brian Young, a friend of the consultant, who does not wish to be named.
"It's pretty scary. I was pretty shocked by the whole thing."
Computer owners who use Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word or any other Microsoft program containing a print font named "Wingdings" can duplicate the anti-Semitic message by typing the letters "NYC" on their screen.
Microsoft said "Wingdings" was designed by Bigelow and Holmes, an outside vendor, and denied that Microsoft intentionally designed the secret message.
Prof. Charles Bigelow confirmed that his company provided the symbols, but insisted that Microsoft made the final "mapping" decisions assigning his symbols to specific keys on the keyboard.
But a senior Microsoft spokesman said the charge that the fonts contain a hidden message is "outrageous."
"It's like saying that if you randomly type out characters on a keyboard to spell 'Satan', you can do that, but it's incredible to say that there's anti-Semitism in Microsoft or one of its vendors," said Charles Hemingway.
But Young, who discussed the matter with other computer consultants, isn't so sure it's just a coincidence.
The "Wingdings" font contains no letters - just 255 symbols.
Young calculated the odds of three letters of the alphabet being combined with 255 symbols, and said he found that the odds of obtaining the message were less than one in a trillion.
"It's mind-blowing," said Young. "Somebody's responsible for this. This is very offensive."
"I found it hard to believe some of the stories about the resurgence of Nazi sympathizers - but this puts things back into perspective."

Here is Microsoft's official statement on the issue:

We can certainly understand how people would respond with some shock to this apparent issue. We did too when it first came up nine years ago and we investigated it thoroughly in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League. The conclusion was that the sequence in the Wingdings character set is coincidental and that there was no malicious intent. In fact, it impacted several software companies at the time and continues to do so. Unfortunately, there was not an easy way to fix the problem. We understand that this requires explanation.
At the simplest level, wingdings and webdings are much like an alphabet of characters and provide thousands of potential combinations from which a person could choose. Changing the character set would create an impact of unknown scale on existing data and code using the affected font. Again, using the example of the alphabet, what would happen to existing documents and applications if we switched around a handful of letters? The likely result is that we would create significant issues for people, cause some unintended humorous moments and several offensive ones. For that reason Wingdings has been left unaltered since its inception.

Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller fame) also drafted a humorous essay on this phenomenon back in 1992.

The last "coincidence" is strictly a manufactured one. Although typing the characters "Q33NY" using the Wingdings font does produce the string of images shown below (an airplane, two pieces of paper that sort of resemble buildings, a skull and crossbones, and a Star of David), there was no flight "Q33NY" involved in the terrorist attack on New York City (the two flights who planes were crashed into the building were American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175), nor does that string correspond to any airplane's tail number or any airline's flight number.

The numerous suggestions about what 'Q33' really does refer to (everything from a New York bus route to a verse from the Quran) merely highlight how easy it is to find significance in anything, meaningful or not.