Paul Di Filippo

The SF genre, of course, is really an organically evolved, marketplace-determined, idiosyncratic grab bag of themes and signifiers and characters and icons and gadgets, some of which hew to the realistic parameters and paradigms embraced by science, others of which partake more of fantasy and magic.

American Writer

Elvis Mitchell

What makes 'Pootie Tang' the motion picture enjoyable is its no-brow ambitions; it's a joke action film. It slides through enough African-American pop culture signifiers to raise laughs out of those who will appreciate the references; it revels in more cheese per square inch than a soul food diner.

American Critic

Ezra Furman

I was a suburban kid who fancied myself somehow intellectual. I was into punk rock but I couldn't get into the subcultural signifiers of dyed hair, safety pins and torn denim. Being a punk seemed like a new set of rules that I wasn't interested in having to follow.

American Musician

Roman Jakobson

The task is to investigate speech sounds in relation to the meanings with which they are invested, i.e., sounds viewed as signifiers, and above all to throw light on the structure of the relation between sounds and meaning.

Russian Scientist

Martha Plimpton

Cigarettes are an instant signifier in culture. It punctuates a joke, or puts that extra zing on a punch line. I like them as a prop. I think it can be really useful for character and texture and contrast and all of that.

American Model

Carrie Brownstein

My father was a corporate lawyer. He went to work in a suit and tie. He had a secretary. He left the house before seven A.M. His professional life felt generic, like a backdrop, a signifier more than a life: office job.

Joy Reid

Votes for president have long been a kind of social signifier. People will proudly boast that they voted for JFK; while it's harder to find those eager to claim having supported Richard Nixon.

American Journalist

Katherine Dunn

The Iliad' includes some snappy sports reporting, and writers ever since have been probing athletes for signifiers, for metaphor amped by grit under pressure.

American Novelist

John Updike

For male and female alike, the bodies of the other sex are messages signaling what we must do, they are glowing signifiers of our own necessities.

Jacques Lacan

For the signifier is a unit in its very uniqueness, being by nature symbol only of an absence.

French Psychologist

The meaning changes with context; what a signifier represents in art might differ from its use in conversation.

Context Matters

A signifier can vary in meaning across cultures, be aware of these differences to avoid misunderstanding.

Cultural Variance

Signifiers can stand for ideas or feelings that are not physically present or visible.

Abstract Concepts

In linguistics, understand that meanings often depend on contrasting signifiers with each other.

Contrast Understanding

In psychoanalysis, signifiers are not just words; they can be actions or even thoughts.

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Meaning through signifiers requires a shared understanding between people; context is key.

Shared Understanding

In semiotics, the signifier must be something tangible or perceivable, not just a concept.

Tangibility

Signifiers like logos or jingles can identify a brand and distinguish it from others.

Brand Identity

An iconic signifier closely resembles the thing it represents, aiding quick recognition.

Iconic Representations

 And that, by the way, is why I think men so often wear ties. Because if you are going to embody disembodied Western rationality, you need a signifier, and what could be a better signifier of disembodied Western rationality