I realized how difficult it is to talk about symbols when I read a blog wherein was said:
http://pmulder.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html
" ...explains the use of the emotional symbols :-), ;-) ... "
where the author is talking about happy-faces-in-type as symbolic of emotional states.
I think "symbol" should be a carrier of meaning. A happy face doesn't "mean" anything necessarily; it is a representation or mimicry.
Happy faces are "billboards", "stand-ins", or "typesetters' puns". To call them "symbols" really messes things up.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
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