Table 3.

Common sense meets semiotic theory

In her shop, Ms Smith sells a kind of flower that grows on shrubs with prickly stems and serrated leaves. Humans use consistent symbols to represent these things (for example, “rose; roos”). However, each person privately adds their own connotations to these symbols

Some definitions of rose from Chambers 21st Century Dictionary

• An erect or climbing thorny shrub that produces large, often fragrant, flowers that may be red, pink, yellow, orange, or white, or combinations of these colours, followed by bright -coloured fleshy fruits

• The national emblem of England

• A light pink, glowing complexion (put the roses back in one's cheeks)

• A perforated nozzle, usually attached to the end of a hose, watering can, or shower head that makes the water come out in a spray