Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44220
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Reinterpretations of symbols are a common occurence:

1. The letter _x_ given the meaning "hazard":

2. The hazard symbol given the meaning "intoxication" or "death":

3. The christian cross given the meaning "Switzerland":

4. The Swiss cross given the meaning "medical help":

5. The copyright symbol given the meaning "funny tv station":

6. A form of the christian cross given the meaning "white supremacy":

7. The dollar symbol given the meaning "variable":

8. The German penny symbol (the letter _d_, for "denarius", in Kurrent script) given the meaning "delete":

and so on ...

Often the new meaning is related to the old one, as in most of these visual examples, but that is not always the case: tv station Comedy Central have nothing specific to do with copyright (or breaking it, as the reverse open circle might suggest) and the dollar sign in programming has no relation to currency.

* * *

_How do you establish a new meaning for a well-known symbol?_

### By using it in that meaning.

Let us suppose that in your text you want to establish the question mark as a symbol for a god. To do that, you could introduce the symbol and this meaning in a scene, where a character regards the symbol and thinks of or learns its meaning:

> Over the altar was what looked like a reversed letter S, with a circle below it.  
> "What does that serpentine line over the dot mean?", John asked.  
> "It's a symbol for the new god", Ann explained.

After this introduction you keep using the symbol in this meaning, while you _avoid mentioning the old meaning_. For example, do not write that "John was hunted by a group of men with question marks on their shoulders". Either give the symbol a name (e.g. "the symbol of [name of god]") or always describe it ("... with the god's wavy line and dot on their shoulders.").

This practice works well, as has been shown in the [Third Wave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave_(experiment)) experiment, where a cupped hand – originally a sign for "holding [water]" – became a symbol for being a member of a (fascist) community.

But symbols work best when their new meaning is related to the old one. If it isn't, those of your readers who recognize the original symbol, will wonder what the relation is and what you intended with your use of that symbol.

Original score: 4