If we have a signifier and signified that's just a simple (or not) sign, even if we don't see the sign, we can still comprehend the meaning of the sign (if we just imagine the sign, for instance).
And there are various levels of signification based on just how significant the signified is.
For instance, a timetable for a train station in Germany when you know very limited German is difficult to parse useful information from:
A different level of signification is from something you know and understand the significance of, but in a context that doesn't align itself within the code we share. Such as:
Which I think is interesting both because he is naked in a place we don't expect to see it and also because he is not an attractive naked person, which further disrupts the coding we associate with nakedness.
First - I've never understood the naked biking craze...
ReplyDeleteSecond - Actually, the German sign is interesting to me because you DON'T need to know German to figure it out. You can tell that the first column lists times because there are the right amount of numbers with the right spacing, and this is the sort of info you'd expect to find in this particular context (otherwise they could represent prices as well).In addition, location info is listed in traditional left to right order - final destinations are on the right. And bigger, for emphasis. Based on other contexts at the location, I think it would be clear what everything else meant if you were at the station as well, based on familiar past situations. For instance, it would be clear that the remaining numbers on the far right connected to the numbers on each train.
Sarah, true... the German timetable is fairly clear once you put a pattern to it... I am fairly interested in that moment when it takes a noticeable amount of time for the referent to appear in your brain... A perfect example of this is when I was in high school, I was on the bus leaving a field hockey meet, just biding time looking out the bus window when I saw a man drive by the bus with no pants on. I saw his legs and his crotch, but for about 10 seconds I just kept looking out the window, not aware that anything was wrong. Then my mind seemed to scan the image and center on the fact that he had on no pants. Then the meaning flooded into my mind and I realized that he should not have been undressed like that in public (not to mention at a high school like that!!!) That click, so to speak, is an interesting thing for me... Great class today!
ReplyDeleteThe naked man is my old decorator. He painted my mums house in North London about ten years ago. Does this help in anyway clarify your thoughts? #justsayin
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