Hi all,
It's pleasing to see this turn of discussion to focus on metaphor. Vico would also be pleased.
Gradually, when you do this, you discover that metaphor is ubiquitous, unavoidable, and a necessity of communication of any kind. It arises out of the simple though profound act of making something stand for something else. It's also pleasing to see Don Norman's comments on affordances. J J Gibson had something much more profound in mind than the way it got picked up in the design/hci community.
It might be helpful when considering metaphor to stop focusing on metaphor as a noun and think of the action: Metophoring or metaphorising (apologies for the inelegant words). Metaphorising is something we do. Once you think of it as an action rather than a *thing* many of the problems associated with 'metaphor' dissolve.
BTW, unless you want to get caught in a quagmire, Donald, I wouldn't go near 'signifier' even with somebody else's barge pole, let alone my own.
David
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