Instead of UTF-8 or ASCII, this font would encode concepts and modifiers, e.g. dog, cat or 'this','that'

For modifiers, it would be encoded as function in Reverse Polish Notation.

This if designed well, would be a compact way to transmit concept in a standard format that can be translated into the viewer's language.
-- mofosyne, Sep 26 2014

haha kanji http://nihongoichib...om/2011/04/6bcd.gif
[not_morrison_rm, Sep 26 2014]

or the old character for "verbose" http://i.stack.imgur.com/mwqxm.png
[not_morrison_rm, Sep 26 2014]

John Wilkins, 1668 http://books.google...v=onepage&q&f=false
table of figures for concepts and modifiers ("genera" and "differences") [pocmloc, Sep 26 2014]

Braille http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille
Braille has 6 dots+ How many dots to cover most concepts? [popbottle, Sep 30 2014]

Hmm, slippery slope to kanji, one culture's pictures don't always make sense to other cultures...see linky of haha kanji and then tell me what's the meaning...linky

No sneaky looking it up in a dictionary....

"Verbose" is still my favourite, but never used these days..
-- not_morrison_rm, Sep 26 2014


Baked to some extent.

[AIRPLANE][ARROW] = This way to the airport.

[LINED CIRCLE][BABY] = No babies allowed!

Also. Wingdings.

I suspect that once you try to render more complex or subtle ideas, you're on your way to creating another language.
-- the porpoise, Sep 26 2014


I'm afraid this idea is well baked, and philosophically flawed. For a great analysis and discussion see Umberto Eco, The search for the perfect language, Blackwell 1995, especially chapters 10 to 15 on a priori philosophical languages.
-- pocmloc, Sep 26 2014


Well I was thinking of many language having similarities in that you have "names" and "functions".

e.g. Bob sees Tod => See(Bob, Tod)

So in reverse polish notation, that would be...

Bob, Tod, Sees(x,y)

Also isn't most language translation system consist of "input language"-> Intermediate representation -> "output language". So in a sense, a conceptual representation font, could be seen as a more compact and machine readable intermediate language.(Which, if people wanted to, could perhaps enter in directly)
-- mofosyne, Sep 27 2014


I wonder if the Sims has some sort of internal shorthand like this.
-- bungston, Sep 30 2014


_|~|o

or:

A native Mexican holding hand up saying hello
An idiot trying to solve the equation 1+1
A tin of tuna fish
The letter U
A Jewish formal divorce document
After leaving its mark, it may lead to an answer.
-- pashute, Oct 01 2014



random, halfbakery