WouldntULIke2Know Derrida

 "Signs represent the present in its absence; they take the place of the present. When we cannot take hold of or show the thing, let us say the present, the being-present,  when the present does not present itself, then we signify, we go through the detour of signs."  Derrida's rather wordy and difficult explanation of difference/differance and signs was, as Dr. Casey warned, one of the more difficult things we will read.  In trying to contemplate exactly what it is that Derrida is getting at, I found myself growing increasingly frustrated.  However, after stumbling into this section and abandoning the a/e controversy, I found a connection to the above quote.  

Signs represent the present in its absence. In understanding signs and what they signify, I began to think about how our culture creates new meaning daily.  Adorno discussed how "Countless people use words and expressions which they either have ceased to understand at all or use only... as trademarks" (70). These trademarks take the place of the present so much so that they represent the "thing" they signify more easily than the "thing" itself. Many of these cultural icons are easily recognizable that they actually transform speech.  For example, people often say that they are going to make a "Xerox" instead of a "copy."  Coming from the daughter of a man who owns is own copier business selling Sharp copiers, I find this incredibly annoying.  While working this summer at his office, I corrected a new employee who said she was going to "make a Xerox" of a certain document.  I politely corrected her.  Regardless of the actual "thing" itself, the word Xerox has effortlessly made its way into everyday discourse in place of the actual word.  When it is mentioned, others know what is being said.