This project was intended to be an investigation into the semantics of visual and verbal communication. It was intended to be a study of various forms of communication, such as prose, poetry, cartooning, and illustrations, to see what gave each one its distinct flavour.

I first heard the term "semantics" about a year and a half ago and have always felt uneasy in its presence. Over the months, I have tended to view it with a certain amount of suspicion. I hold nothing against it. But, when approached directly, "meanings" have a habit of deluding you. If done in the 'true' spirit of a project, this report would have included voluminous chapters on 'data collection,' 'analysis,' and a set of solutions based on the understanding gained from such an analysis.Unfortunately my cowardice fails me. However, I hope that the word "investigation" in the project's title allows me to express why I want to avoid such an analysis.

Because man is inherently lazy, he chooses to live his life through symbols. The 'nice' guy The 'sad' song The 'lived happily ever after' tale He has an extremely efficient memory, which he uses to record past experiences, allowing him to respond most effectively to a new stimulus. He is constantly making observations and, on the basis of these, certain generalisations. Perhaps this stems from the instinct for survival. This wisdom does ensure that you duck in time to avoid the hard dust that the teacher hurls at you, but it also tells you that you ought not write sentences that are too long, for that would be bad English. Everything is fine until this smart assh.... comes along and does exactly the opposite of what he should have done and does it well, and where are you?

If you go by the book, it's unlikely that you will get your fingers burned twice, but it is also unlikely that you will experience the same thrill that you did when, during a freak thunderstorm, you found hailstones lashing your face for the first time.