One of the things that interested me this week in class, specifically on Thursday was when we discussed how we associate different products with signs. One example of this is how we associate the golden arches with McDonalds. It is in our sub-conscious that we associate different signs with products because they are imbedded in our minds through the media. I’ve always found it interesting how we attach ourselves to signs, and hold onto our relationship as tightly as possible. For example we no longer say tissues, we say Kleenex, even though that is a brand of tissue. The way we attach ourselves to certain products seems a bit ridiculous, but most of the time we are not even aware of what we are doing. We have associated ourselves so much with one brand, that we give the product the brand name. It was also interesting to discuss how different signs can mean different things to people. We discussed the Exxon sign, and how even though we all associate that sign with gas, people also see gas station (Exxon) as directions, food, or beer. Even though different people have different ideas on what Exxon means to them, the primary idea is that it’s a gas station. I thought the quote “Without language, thought is vague, unchartered rebla” was an interesting idea to think about, because although there is a good point being made in saying without a way of expressing yourself, thought is irrelevant anyway. However, without thought, language would not exist. I also took this quote as saying that language is more important than thought because it is our primary way of communicating with each other. I disagree with this idea, I believe that thought in itself is in no way vague, and through thought we can communicate by means other than language. Those were my highlights from class on Thursday.