trashcan education II

About the trashcans: Magritte really made a point. He showed that, at least in our Western languages, we don't have a proper word for "represents", because the picture on the billboards is not really a trashcan, but represents one. We are too used to using the word "is" for representations, thus mixing up fact and fabrication. When we, let's say, would have the verb "to rep" (I rep, you rep, he reps, it reps, etc.) there would no longer be any misunderstandings. So when you are watching holiday pictures together with your family, you wouldn't shout: "look, there is mom" when she appears on a picture, but: "there reps mom". See also my post "the meaning of meaning". It seems to be a trivial subject, but this mixing up of real things of subjects with their representations permeats our whole language and culture. Introduction of "to rep" could even restore world peace.
Now, without the word "to rep", if the posters would say: "This represents a trashcan" instead of "this is a trashcan" it would cause confusion, because the students and staff would wonder if the real trashcan next to it, would really be a genuine trashcan, or another, threedimensional representation of it, and throw their wastepaper on the floor to be sure.