The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) defines a badge as a metal brooch that has a female piece and another male piece, which fit together when closing.
Generally, the idea of a badge is used to name insignia or emblems that are added to clothing. It can also refer to the identifications that are used to authorize entry to a certain event or place.
It is important to clarify that the term badge is used specifically in some Spanish-speaking regions, including Chile, Argentina and Mexico, in Latin America, and Aragon, in Spain. One of its most common applications is the distinction of responsibilities within a group of people who practice a sport professionally; For example, the referee, the players and the captain wear different badges so a glance at this badge is enough to differentiate their roles .
Badges, in this framework, are made up of a support (where the data that is intended to be displayed is detailed) and a fastening (which allows the support to be attached to clothing using a safety pin or a similar element). Sometimes the badge has a ribbon so that the person can hang it around their neck.
Let's take the case of an exhibition of the mining industry that takes place at a fairground and includes the exhibition of machinery, the development of business meetings and other proposals. To access the exhibition in question, it is essential to register in advance through a website. In this way, when the interested party arrives at the door of the fairgrounds and says his name, a member of the event organization gives him a badge with the personal data previously registered, which the subject must display on his clothing so that it can be Allow passage to the different sectors of the exhibition. If a person in charge of the organization finds someone without a badge inside the premises, they can ask them to identify themselves or expel them from the site.
Despite its similarity to words like gafete (person who brings bad luck to those around him) and glasses , we must clarify that gafete has no relationship with them. However, when studying its etymology we discovered that it does derive from glasses but with the meaning of "hook or clip that was used to hold glasses." In other words, gafete is the diminutive of gafa , but not in the sense that we use it today, as a synonym for glasses .
Broadly speaking, we can say that the badge is made up of two parts: a support and a fastening system. The first fulfills two functions, since on the one hand it is the necessary complement of the second but it is also the one that prints all the information regarding the individual who wears the badge, as explained in the previous paragraphs. Generally, the badge holder has a rectangular shape, but there are also triangular, oval, circular and square, among many other possibilities.
The material of the badge holder also depends on the decisions and needs of each company; Among the most common are acrylic, plastic, nickel, aluminum, bronze and even paper. It should be noted that there are electronic badges, which have a screen to print the user's data.
Regarding fastening, it is a piece that allows us to attach the badge to the individual's clothing. The most common is the safety pin , but ribbons are also used to hang the badge around the neck, magnets and Velcro, among other options.