My nearest book

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/daily-prompt-bookworm/

Daily Prompt: Bookworms

Grab the nearest book. Open it and go to the tenth word. Do a Google Image Search of the word. Write about what the image brings to mind.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us BOOKS.

My nearest book just happens to be my Wordpower Dictionary. As the prompt didn’t say where to open the book, I just stuck my fingers in and went for the first wording on the page.

My word happens to be symbols.

Having then carried out the Google image search of said word, I found a lot of pictures of rows and rows of little pictures. I’m very familiar with symbols of certain types because my cross stitch charts are all made up of them. Lots of them in some cases. When I design my own charts, my computer program also uses symbols – one for each different thread colour used in the design.

Of course, there are many symbols depicting many different things. There are religious symbols, zodiac symbols, runic symbols, logos and wingdings of all shapes and sizes. They can make a presentation look more interesting (or not) or they can mean something special to an individual.

Everything can be seen as a symbol to someone. I’m looking at my screen as I type this and realise that the letters are also symbols. Not only does each one represent a shape, it also represents a sound; together they make words, sometimes altering their sound. The cursor is a symbol that here is the point at which we should start. And the bars at the top of the window have all manner of strange signs and symbols which indicate certain functions of the program I’m using.

Symbols are everywhere we look. Road signs are another prime example. You see an image and you’re supposed to know what each one means. Generally it’s a relevant diagram to the meaning, other times they can be a little confusing. And then there are the chemical labels…

Clothing labels are another example. Laundry instructions sometimes in words, most often in little symbols which vary depending on material composition, guiding you to the correct care for your garments.

Symbols are a pictorial indication for those who may not understand the written word for whatever reason, maybe it’s the wrong language. And languages in certain parts of the world are all made up of intricate symbols which can sometimes just mean a single letter, sometimes a whole word.