<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 11:21 PM, John Clements <<a href="mailto:clements@brinckerhoff.org">clements@brinckerhoff.org</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Suppose A represents B. Do we say that A is the representation of B or that B is the representation of A? Concrete example: let the table represent the street, and my hand represent the car. Do we say that my hand is the representation of the car, or that the car is the representation of my hand? I claim that the former is the standard one: that is, my hand is the representation of the car. Now: Suppose A denotes B. Do we say that A is the denotation of B or that B is the denotation of A? Bizarrely, it appears that most people in the languages community use the latter. That is: suppose that "(lambda (x) x)" denotes the platonic identity function. I believe we say that the program is the denotation of the function, rather than that the function is the denotation of the program. This irritates me. I claim we need a new word for "the thing that A denotes". Is there already a standard term for this? John</blockquote><div> <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reification">http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reification</a> Dave </div></div>