the shape of the signifier
So many signs, so few comfortable ways to read them. I step inside a beautiful, nearly manorial house in Santa Barbara to use the bathroom, and beside the door I spy a little pamphlet called Speedy Spanish for Employers, offering useful translations such as "Can you come Wednesday?"; "Do you know how to clean the pool?"; "Please dust the bookcases." One's gut recoils at it, but then isn't it, or something like it, necessary for Santa Barbara's economy to function? Then on the web I discover Speedy Spanish for Corrections Personnel and am horrified all over again—"Simple Commands & Requests," "Victim/Witness Interrogation," "Booking/Cavity Search," "Medical Assessment/Injections/Clean Catch."
Freshman girl leaving the English building in a Special K ringer T-shirt. Is it legit? If so, does Kellogg's know that teenagers want their product logo on a hip ringer tee because it's slang for ketamine?
