"Good Morning"

"Good morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out farther than the brim of his shady hat.

"What do you mean?" he said. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

"All of them at once," said Bilbo.

At this point Gandalf is playing the role of Structuralism, asking what Bilbo actually means by what he is sayings since there are several different conclusions that can be assumed from the phrase “Good Morning” instead of one generic conclusion.

The image below continues along those lines. The viewer can connect with this because they understand that while it actually comes from a song, the words can convey a totally unrelated meaning.

In the example below we can see that it’s not just individual words that carry double meanings but also particular phrases which change from decade to decade. Because of what we know from history we can distinguish between what the literal meaning of this phrase and what the intended meaning of it is.