Bliss's central motive was to overcome the harm that words can do. He says his foremost aim in making Semantography was to take the harm out of words: he had been harmed by words, had harmed others, and had seen words cause great harm to millions p. 567. His own experience drove this. When Hitler overran Austria, Bliss was deported to the death camps of Dachau and Buchenwald, where he saw how men can be induced by words to kill with a clear conscience p. 11. He came to believe that war and misery are unleashed by vague, ambiguous, and fallacious words, slogans, and propaganda, while no school teaches people how to recognize such words p. 11p. 93.

A second motive was to overcome the language barrier between peoples. There are thousands of languages, and people resist learning foreign tongues, including Esperanto, so understanding is blocked p. 84. In Shanghai, Bliss saw that people speaking different languages could nevertheless read the same newspaper and write to each other through Chinese ideographic writing, which had united many peoples into one nation p. 11. This inspired him to develop a modern, simple, scientifically constructed pictorial symbol writing that could be typed and used in commerce, communication, industry, and even science p. 11.

He also intended Semantography as a practical realization of Leibnitz's old dream of a universal symbolism readable in all languages p. 85p. 25. He presented it not as a replacement for ordinary writing but as an auxiliary tool p. 191.

• How did Bliss's experience with Chinese writing in Shanghai shape his idea?
• Why did Bliss reject Esperanto and other spoken international languages?
• What did Bliss mean by calling Semantography a 'chemistry of words'?

Bliss saw a basic flaw in alphabetic, sound-based writing: the same letters stand for almost any sound and sometimes for no sound at all, so a word like KNOWLEDGE may be pronounced in many ways p. 103. He argued that even a perfect phonetic alphabet would not work, because pronunciation varies between regions and shifts over time, so an alphabet fixed now would soon be obsolete; people in different places go on pronouncing the same written word differently regardless of new letters p. 103. He also stressed that pronunciation and meaning are entirely different things: teaching someone perfect pronunciation does not teach them what the words mean p. 103.

More fundamentally, Bliss held that sounds, and the letters standing for them, are arbitrary; the sound of "water" indicates the liquid no better than any other language's word, and most words have no direct connection to real things p. 176. Because alphabetic signs only faintly represent sounds and in their combinations stand for ideas, he argued that English and other writing is already in the main ideographic rather than phonetic, much like Chinese writing, which people who cannot understand each other in speech can still read p. 103.

By contrast, Bliss wanted a geometrical, ideographic writing in which every symbol indicates the structure of real things, making it readable in all languages and "truer" than arbitrary phonetic writing p. 191p. 192.

• How did Bliss think Chinese writing could unite people who speak different languages?
• What did Bliss mean by calling his symbols "truer" than phonetic writing?
• Why did Bliss say that Esperanto and other spoken international languages failed?

Semantography is built from Greek roots: graphein means to write, sema a sign, and semanticos to signify, with semantics being the young science of the significance (meaning) of words and their influence on human behaviour p. 92. So the name points to a writing concerned with the meaning of words p. 92. Bliss describes it as a new writing that shows the meaning of a word much better than phonetic writing can p. 92. Elsewhere it is given as the study of meaning, derived from the Greek sema (a sign), semainein (to signify), and semanticos (significant, meaning) p. 566. In practice, Bliss presents Semantography as a simple system of about 100 logical pictorial symbols that can be operated and read like 1 + 2 = 3 in all languages p. 2. He calls it "One Writing for One World," an auxiliary inter-linguistic medium in which a letter, notice or paper can be read in any language p. 26. The symbols are meant to indicate the geometrical structure of real things, making the writing nearer to the actual structure of the world and therefore "truer" than phonetic writing p. 180.

• How did Bliss come to invent Semantography?
• How do the three symbol indicators (thing, action, evaluation) work?
• Why does Bliss claim Semantography is 'truer' than phonetic writing?

Bliss's central claim is that pictorial symbols can be read in any language because they show meaning directly, not sound. A letter, notice, warning, or report written in the picturegraphs of Semantography can be read in any language p. 26. Each symbol shows the outline or structure of a real thing, so the reader grasps the meaning and then renders it in the proper word order of their own tongue p. 174. This is why "readable in all languages" does not mean word-for-word reading in the same order; the reader glances over the whole group of symbols, grasps the meaning, and translates it into their own language's word order p. 174.

The model for this is Chinese ideographic writing. Once a person grasps the meaning of Chinese characters, without learning to pronounce them, they can read an old poem in their own mother tongue, because the outline conjures the thing directly rather than a sound p. 102. Scholars treat this language-independent writing as the factor that unified many tribes and tongues into one nation p. 102p. 202. The same principle already works internationally in mathematics, chemistry, music, and traffic signs, which everyone can use while still speaking, reading, and writing in their own mother tongue p. 189p. 190.

Because sounds are arbitrary while geometrical outlines follow real things, a curve road sign is grasped almost immediately, whereas the word CURVE or Dutch KROMME must first be mentally translated p. 190p. 191. To help during early use, public signs would carry the native words underneath until people learned the symbols p. 236.

• Why does Bliss say Chinese writing succeeded in uniting many peoples?
• What does Bliss mean when he calls alphabetic words 'arbitrary sounds'?
• How does Bliss propose teaching the symbols to people during their first years of use?

Bliss treated Chinese writing as a working proof that one written system can bridge many spoken languages. In Shanghai he saw that people who could not understand one another in speech could still read the same newspapers and books and write letters to each other p. 11p. 202. Scholars told him that this ideographic writing was the main unifying factor that bound many tribes and races into the largest nation on earth, and that even invaders were absorbed and became Chinese because they learned to read the script in their own tongues p. 11p. 202p. 102. He also learned that the script preserved meaning across time: a poem written more than 2500 years ago could still be read in any modern Chinese tongue, while old phonetic writings such as early English become hard to read p. 102p. 234.

From his own study he found that one can grasp the meaning of characters directly, seeing the thing rather than translating a sound, though he read them in his mother tongue p. 102p. 217. He hired a teacher and after a year gave up learning the full system, finding it cumbersome, complicated, and overloaded with archaic and arbitrary signs whose original pictures were almost obliterated p. 217p. 101. These lessons shaped Semantography: he aimed at a simpler, clearer ideographic writing, better than Chinese, that could be typed on an ordinary typewriter p. 218p. 191.

• How did Bliss say one reads Chinese characters in one's own mother tongue?
• Why did Bliss find Chinese writing too cumbersome to keep learning?
• How is Semantography meant to improve on Chinese writing?

No. Semantography is presented as an auxiliary tool, not a replacement for spoken or national languages. It offers no competition to any national language or to literary and poetical work, and should be used only as a practical tool for international communication, especially in science, industry, commerce, and traffic p. 90. It is meant only as an aid, a supplementary writing, and does not aim to displace ordinary writing p. 41. Bliss never intended Semantography to replace ordinary writing or to stop the constant coining of new words; it is meant as a practical tool for certain purposes, not as a rigid channel for all language p. 555. A crucial point is that Semantography cannot be spoken at all, so it is not a competitor to an international spoken language; instead it is offered as a vehicle that might bring such a language about p. 213. Bliss even argued that spoken international-language schemes tend to fail because the mother tongue acts like an irresistible force, so people will not give up their own speech p. 215p. 216. Semantography is described instead as a way for people to remain within their mother tongues while still making themselves understood by writing and reading p. 212.

• Why does Bliss think spoken international languages like Esperanto have failed?
• What practical uses does Bliss propose for Semantography?
• How could Semantography help bring about an international spoken language?

By picture-writing Bliss meant a meaning-based form of writing in which each symbol geometrically indicates a real thing, rather than standing for a sound. In Semantography every symbol must somehow indicate the geometrical structure of real things; no arbitrary symbols are allowed except those already used internationally, such as punctuation and mathematical signs p. 175. He drew a sharp line between this and sound writing: in Egyptian alphabetic use a picture of a lion could stand for the letter L, and in his argument sound writing divides speakers of different languages while a meaning-based picture writing might unite them p. 531. He used Chinese characters as his prime example of successful picture-writing, since people who cannot understand each other in speech can still read the same characters in their own mother tongue p. 202p. 102. Bliss stressed that picture symbols are not always self-explanatory; they consist of a few schematized lines that only faintly indicate the outlines of things, so their meanings must be explained and studied, just as the numerals 1 to 0 had to be learned p. 120. He distinguished physical things, shown in outline, from non-physical things, shown by geometric symbols that analyse their significance p. 40. He also distinguished real writing, which conveys ideas or happenings, from pictures alone, noting that the cave paintings of Spain and France are pictures of events or animals but not writing p. 758p. 759.

• Why did Bliss consider Chinese writing a successful picture-writing?
• How does Semantography build symbols for abstract ideas?
• What did Bliss find in the paleolithic cave paintings?

Across the autobiographical and epilogue pages, Bliss recounts a war marked by persecution, separation, and survival. In 1938 he was caught in what he calls the most murderous maelstrom of death by words, and he went through the hells of extermination camps before being freed p. 812. His wife Claire, described as a "German Aryan," fought the Gestapo fearlessly for his release even though they warned her she was risking her life by fighting for a Jew; in the end she won, and Bliss was released but had to leave immediately for England p. 814. From London he tried to get Claire out of Nazi Germany, but his attempts through Roumania and Greece were thwarted by Mussolini's attack on Greece and by the Russian occupation that affected his family in Czernowitz p. 814.

To reunite, the couple traveled around the globe: Bliss went west across the Atlantic, Canada, the Pacific, and Japan to Shanghai, while Claire traveled east through Turkey, Russia, Siberia, and Manchuria; they embraced again on Christmas Eve 1940 p. 815. In Shanghai they made a living making and editing movies p. 816. There they endured typhoid, the Hongkew Ghetto, and American bombs, but lived through it all p. 817. It was also in wartime Shanghai that the idea for Semantography took shape during blackouts and air raids, leading to his first public lecture on January 23, 1943 p. 218. After peace came, his cousin Karl sent entry permits, and they reached Australia on 14 July 1946 p. 817.

• How did Bliss and Claire reunite after their separate journeys?
• What did Bliss experience in Shanghai's International Settlement?
• How did Bliss's wartime experience shape the idea for Semantography?

Bliss's universal grammar divides the meanings of words into three principal classes, aside from terms for space, time, and numbers: chemical THING, physical ACTION, and human EVALUATION p. 338p. 263. A chemical THING is a distinct thing or entity, such as a stone; a physical ACTION is an action in space and time, such as falling; and a human EVALUATION is a human judgement, such as nice, ugly, manly, or sinful p. 143. Most words in all languages can belong to one, two, or all three of these classes p. 143.

Bliss describes how man first classified THINGS and ACTIONS, then felt compelled to pass judgement, inventing a third group of names that has no real existence in nature and cannot be touched or registered by impartial apparatus, with meanings originating only in human brains and differing between them p. 260. This third group, named HUMAN EVALUATION, may also be called values, qualities, attributes, adjectives, or adverbs p. 260. Because no two human brains are alike, the meaning of human-evaluation words differs from person to person, which is why Bliss treats them as relative and a frequent source of dispute p. 262p. 338. The three classes are shown together as labelled symbols: THING (chemical), ACTION (physical), and EVALUATION (human) p. 263.

• How does Bliss show these three classes as symbol indicators on top of other symbols?
• Why does Bliss consider human-evaluation words especially dangerous?
• How does Bliss say human-evaluation words can be made harmless or eliminated?

Bliss bases the mind symbol on a drawn outline of the upper skull, the casing of the brain p. 109p. 296. He treats this as the one place where he can draw the outline of the brain itself, the seat of this wonderful and fearful thing p. 109. Drawing on Freud, he divides the mind into three "partitions" that are interwoven and without clear boundaries: emotion, reason, and conscience, corresponding to Freud's Id, Ego, and Super-Ego p. 110p. 296. Because semantography is written between two lines, these three parts are placed at different heights: emotion in the low position, reason in the middle, and conscience high up p. 110. The conscience symbol shows another mind superimposed upon the individual reasoning mind, which Bliss builds from the spatial meanings of super, over, and above p. 111p. 310. Stacking the three skull outlines one above another gives the symbol for the whole mind, soul, or spirit p. 533p. 726. For ordinary writing Bliss offers a simpler scheme: he keeps the age-old heart for emotion or passion, uses a single mind arch for reason or Ego, and a doubled mind arch for conscience or Super-Ego p. 111. He stresses that the mind symbol carries a special semantic role: wherever it appears, the meaning may differ from individual to individual, since no two minds are alike p. 114.

• Why did Bliss propose abandoning the heart symbol for serious psychological writing?
• How does Bliss form the symbols for the unconscious, subconscious, and conscious states?
• How does Bliss build the symbol for reason or the Ego?

Bliss represents a physical action, or energy, with an upward angle symbol. Its outline recalls one of the most primeval actions on earth: the forming of volcano cones and the thrusting up of mountains; as a memory aid it can also be read as the capital letter A in the Latin word Actus, meaning a doing or an action p. 107. The same explanation appears in the introductory leaflet material, where the energy symbol is tied to the Latin word ACTUS and again linked to the throwing-up of volcano cones and mountains p. 43. This action sign belongs to the three main grammar symbols of Semantography, which divide all words as referring to MATTER (a square indicating structure), ENERGY (Actus, action), and MIND (Valere, valuation) p. 47.

In use, the action symbol is placed on top of another symbol to indicate the action that a thing performs p. 122p. 107. When the action symbol stands enlarged before another symbol, it indicates the verbal noun p. 122. The action indicator usually gives the active form; if the active form needs special stress, especially with transitive verbs, it can be turned sideways like an arrow toward the object acted upon, and reversed for the passive form p. 122. Because every action occurs in time, the time signs for past, present, and future can be added to the action indicator p. 107.

• How does Bliss represent a material thing in his symbols?
• How does the evaluation indicator differ from the action indicator?
• How are active and passive forms shown with the action indicator?

In Semantography, new words are built mainly by combining a small set of basic symbol elements rather than by inventing wholly new signs. Bliss states that every meaning in any language can be expressed with the 100 symbol elements only, and the many fuller signs are derived auxiliary outlines p. 462. He shows how a thing in a hand makes a tool, and any tool can be formed by placing the tool sign before an expression of its work, for example tool-to-open gives key p. 462. Compounds are read as composed meanings; familiar ones soon call up the real thing at a glance, like Chinese characters p. 391. Word class is set by three grammar indicators placed above the writing line: a THING indicator, an ACTION indicator, and an EVALUATION indicator p. 269p. 143. The same base symbol can be read as thing, action, or value by exchanging these indicators, as with sun, water, and cloud p. 270. Time, conditional, plural, and single-action forms are added with further small markers p. 123. A key rule for compounds is word order: Semantography writes from the general to the particular, putting the most important meaning first, as in room-for-eating or table-from-oak-wood p. 561p. 560. Bliss generally avoids a hyphen, since the short horizontal line already means minus, though a future link symbol may connect an adjective to its noun p. 561p. 564. Comma can also mark a single word expressing two meanings, such as young female for girl p. 564.

• What are the three grammar indicators for THING, ACTION, and EVALUATION?
• Why does Bliss prefer general-to-particular word order in compounds?
• What is the difference between basic symbol elements and auxiliary outline symbols?

No. Bliss did not believe Esperanto or any artificial spoken language could overcome the language barrier. His central reason is the strength of the mother tongue, which he compares to an irresistible force like gravitation p. 185. He argues that even if Esperanto were taught in all the schools of the world, it would fail, because the billions of people in Europe, Africa, Asia, America and elsewhere would go on speaking as their mothers taught them p. 84. School language teaching, even with the best teachers and methods, has mostly proved a failure, and only self-preservation—the need to make a living in a foreign environment—can partly overcome the mother tongue, and even then people fall back into it among themselves p. 186p. 84. He also held that you cannot force people to learn a new language, citing the Lithuanians who, forbidden their tongue on penalty of death, still spoke only Lithuanian generations later p. 41p. 185. Bliss further saw a practical danger in Esperanto's richness: its room for subtle shades of meaning and complicated sentences becomes a source of misunderstanding rather than clear communication p. 547p. 548. He concluded that learning to speak another language while living inside the mother tongue is one of the major difficulties of the human mind p. 212, and that the way out is symbol writing that lets people remain within their mother tongues while still reading and writing to one another p. 212p. 216.

• How did Bliss propose people could communicate across languages instead?
• What lesson did Bliss draw from the history of Esperanto's reforms?
• Why did Bliss say Semantography was not a competitor to a spoken international language?

Bliss came to symbol writing as a working scientist, and his faith in symbols rested on what he had seen them already accomplish. He graduated from the Vienna University of Technology in 1922 and entered industry as a research chemist, where he soon realised that the Babel of scientific publications was the greatest handicap to research p. 10. He noticed that while people resist learning foreign languages, certain signs cross all language borders: 1 + 2 = 3 can be read in all languages, H2O means water in all languages, and radio wiring diagrams are understood everywhere p. 10. As a chemist with a lifelong training in handling chemical symbols, he trusted that approach p. 24.

He built his grammar on the same scientific basis. Being a chemist, he assumed that all languages describe the same physical world, whose manifestations can be classified into matter, energy, and mind, giving a common basis for all languages p. 42. He also drew directly on the example of chemistry, where formulae such as HCl mean the same substance whether called hydrochloric acid or Chlorwasserstoff p. 507, and where a formula reveals the hidden structure behind a familiar name, as NaCl reveals sodium and chlorine behind the word salt p. 193. He believed symbol formulae could likewise expose the inner structure, and even the danger, of vague words p. 26.

• How did Bliss propose using chemical formulae as a model for analysing words like 'Democracy'?
• What did Bliss learn from Chinese writing while he was in China?
• How does Bliss's three-symbol grammar of MATTER, ENERGY, and MIND work?

Bliss believed a logical symbol writing could weaken demagogues by exposing the vague, ambiguous, and false words they rely on. Because every Blissymbol must indicate real things geometrically, it makes plain whether a word points to a concrete THING or ACTION or is merely a human EVALUATION made in someone's head p. 4p. 93. He argued that a generation trained in this "Algebra of Thought" would instantly recognize illogic, ambiguity, fallacy, and demagogy in what they hear or read p. 8p. 7. Demagogues like Hitler used demagogic language to drive a nation into war, and Bliss saw how words could induce men to kill with a clear conscience p. 11. He showed how slogans could be rewritten in symbols: "Czechoslovakia is a danger to Germany" becomes visible as an evaluation, since "danger" only means something feared and differs from mind to mind p. 580p. 162. He also proposed safety devices, such as adding a question mark so that "is" becomes "may be," stripping away rhetorical force p. 165p. 151. The symbols work like chemical formulae, revealing the inherent structure and inherent danger of a meaning, so that vague terms become directly visible as such p. 26p. 94. Trained citizens would translate high-sounding words into measurable things—calories, schools, prison bars—and ask for the realities behind the words rather than being misled p. 169p. 627. Bliss hoped that once semantics was taught in schools, people would no longer listen reverently to such speeches p. 666.

• How did Bliss rewrite Hitler's Czechoslovakia syllogism in symbols?
• What semantic safety devices did Bliss propose for the verb "to be"?
• How does Bliss compare symbol formulae for democracy to chemical formulae?

Bliss treated road signs as a matter of life or death, arguing that fragmented and inconsistent symbols endanger people p. 204. A sign acceptable in one country can mislead a foreign motorist trained on a different sign, and mistakes become disastrous in bad weather, low visibility, or at high speed p. 204. He focused on the international BEND sign as ambiguous: by its outline it appears to mean first a turn right then left, but it may be read as the opposite, so a motorist following the clear outline could be headed for a crash p. 204. The ambiguity extends further, since one similar sign might mean a double bend while another means an underpass p. 204. Some countries use word signs such as WINDING ROAD or CURVES, which are hard for foreigners and easy to misunderstand p. 205. Board shapes (triangle, rectangle, square, diamond) and forms like a circle carry different meanings in different countries p. 205. Bliss noted dangerous similarities among hill, direction, and stop signs, and that every country also has many signs written only in the native language, which for a foreigner might as well be in Greek p. 207. He observed that even within the United States, complete uniformity was not achieved, citing the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices and its complaint about independent local procedures p. 207. He named three causes of this muddle: native-language signs instead of geometrical ones, arbitrary geometrical signs that others tried to improve with more arbitrary signs, and the absence of any international symbol writing p. 208.

• What solution did Bliss propose for creating uniform international road signs?
• Why did Bliss think the BEND sign was especially dangerous?
• How did Bliss connect the triangular safety sign to his Creation symbol?

No. In Bliss's view Egyptian hieroglyphics are not picture writing in the sense he is pursuing p. 771. Although the beautifully drawn signs may look like the finest picture writing ever evolved, each picture in the example actually stands for a phonetic sound, and the signs spell out the name Cleopatra rather than conveying their pictured meanings p. 771. He stresses that even the oldest dated Egyptian records, going back to around 5000 B.C. near the age assigned to Menes, are phonetic and alphabetical rather than simple picture writing p. 772. The Egyptian scribes were aware that speech and pronunciation change while monuments remain, and because words could sound alike but mean different things, they added pictorial clarifiers, which Bliss presents as the scribes' own semantographic device p. 772. He explains these clarifiers as determinatives: for instance the phonetic word for dancing could be followed by a picture of a dancing girl, while the same sound for thirst could be followed by signs involving water and a man pointing to his mouth p. 773. Bliss treats this as the reintroduction of pictorial signs after phonetic writing had already developed, not as a survival of primitive picture writing p. 773. He also notes the ornamental complexity, where many different pictures could represent the same sound, such as a lion or a lotus for the sound L p. 773.

• What does Bliss say about Chinese writing as a transitional stage between pictographs and phonetic writing?
• How does Bliss describe the Hebrew alphabet and the letter beth meaning house?
• Why does Bliss argue that semantography is not a step backward to primitive picture writing?

During their years in Shanghai, Bliss and Claire earned a living through what the book describes as their beloved hobby brought from Vienna: they made movies to order and edited and titled movies for Shanghai residents p. 816. A reproduced New Year's greeting card from Shanghai shows the couple with film reels, reflecting this work p. 816. Elsewhere the book notes that Bliss spent six fascinating years in Shanghai as a photographer and moviemaker, constantly looking for unusual happenings to film p. 710.

• How did Bliss and Claire come to be reunited in Shanghai?
• What did Bliss observe about Shanghai's many languages?
• How did Bliss film the procession performers in China?

Claire was Bliss's companion and co-worker, whom he dedicated his work to and who he says inspired and helped him, and who died heartbroken in 1961 after fifteen years of pleading with educational authorities to take an interest in his work p. 5. During Bliss's imprisonment in Dachau and Buchenwald, Claire fought the Gestapo fearlessly, even though as a "German Aryan" she was warned she was putting herself in mortal danger by fighting for a Jew; she insisted he was innocent and ultimately won his release, though he had to leave for England p. 814. After his parents' death she gave him courage and help, and Bliss says that without her, or if he had been burdened by a demanding wife, his work would never have come to light p. 812. He describes his rescue as the ethical power working in Claire's cells: she defied death and made him survive, so that in a free country he could produce his new idea p. 812. The couple later reunited on Christmas Eve 1940 after a hazardous journey around the globe, lived through wartime Shanghai together, and reached Australia in 1946, where they lived for fifteen happy years p. 815p. 817. After publication in 1949, Claire wrote thousands of letters to educators, but there was no response; when their hopes were shattered, her heart broke, and in 1953 she suffered her first heart attack before dying on 14 August 1961 p. 812p. 813.

• What journey did Claire make to reunite with Bliss in 1940?
• What happened to the couple during the war in Shanghai?
• How did Bliss memorialize Claire after her death?

Bliss intended his symbols as a route to literacy for the very large numbers of people who could not read. He saw the symbols as a simple universal picture writing for more than 1,500,000,000 illiterates in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere, who speak thousands of languages and dialects p. 26. He linked literacy itself to better living and self-government, citing the view that universal adult literacy is the first essential in organising a community for improved techniques of living p. 658. He argued that his picture writing could be taught more easily than phonetic writing using an alphabet, would not become outmoded when pronunciation changes, and could be printed in books and papers for the whole world to read in any language p. 658.

For people who could not yet read at all, Bliss pointed to symbols whose outline suggests their meaning. He proposed warning and instruction signs with the local language placed underneath, so that even a foreigner or an illiterate person who finds the phonetic words meaningless can recognise the significance of the symbols immediately p. 42. He also suggested agricultural directions to illiterate farmers on seed packages, showing when to plough, sow, and harvest p. 42. Through such everyday exposure, the public would gradually learn the basic symbol elements and find later symbols easy p. 237.

• Why did Bliss think Chinese writing showed that an ideographic script could unify many peoples?
• How did Bliss propose displaying public signs so people could learn the symbols' meaning?
• What did Bliss say about teaching the symbols to children?

By "One Writing for One World" Bliss means a single, non-alphabetical symbol writing that can be read in every language without translation, much as 1 + 2 = 3 can be read in all tonguesp. 89. A letter, notice, warning, paper, or even a poem written, typed, or printed in these almost self-explanatory picturegraphs could be read in any language, so everyone keeps reading and writing in their own mother tongue p. 26p. 46. He frames it as an auxiliary tool for international communication in science, industry, commerce, communication, education, and traffic, not a replacement for any national language p. 26p. 91.

Bliss grounds the idea in Chinese writing, which let people who speak different languages read the same newspapers and books and helped unite them into one great nation p. 10p. 11. He saw the same unifying potential in a simpler, scientifically constructed symbol writing typeable on an ordinary typewriter p. 10p. 24.

The phrase also carries a further aim: literacy for the world's illiterate population and a simple semantics and logic that lets people recognise vague, ambiguous, and fallacious words used by demagogues p. 26p. 10. He summarises the vision as one primer, one paper, one print for one world p. 26, and closes the work with the claim that one writing for one world will come p. 742.

• How did Chinese writing inspire Bliss's idea?
• What practical uses did Bliss propose for the symbols?
• Why did Bliss think learning spoken international languages like Esperanto fails?

Bliss draws the contrast through Chinese ideographic writing. Because the characters convey image and idea rather than sound, a poem written more than 2500 years ago is still readable in any modern Chinese tongue, and its beauty is grasped directly without translation p. 102p. 234. The reader sees the moon or the bamboo leaves directly, instead of going through a letter-combination like m-o-o-n p. 102. Phonetic writing works differently: it reproduces pronunciation, and when pronunciation and the spoken language change, old literature loses its living meaning p. 234. Bliss illustrates this with a 7th-century line of the Lord's Prayer, which no longer reveals its meaning because the words have greatly changed p. 235. He notes that Western literatures in English, French, and other phonetic languages survive as living literature only over the last few centuries; older writing more than about 700 to 1000 years old is lost unless translated into today's language p. 234. By contrast, Confucius and Mencius still survive in Chinese civilization while early Germanic material has largely vanished p. 234. Bliss adds that mathematical signs behave like Chinese characters: they are independent of pronunciation and can be read across languages even when spoken differently p. 201. For this reason he treats ideographic writing as preserving meaning against the corrosion of time and usage, and frames Semantography, whose symbols show the outlines of real things, as carrying the same advantage p. 234p. 236.

• How did Bliss read Chinese characters in his own mother tongue?
• Why does Bliss say alphabetic writing is only partially phonetic and in the main ideographic?
• How does Bliss compare chemical formulae with words for revealing hidden structure?

In Bliss's system the mathematical plus and minus signs are reused in several ways. As basic elements, the plus sign means addition and the minus sign means subtraction p. 105. Written smaller, the plus sign serves as particles such as "and," "too," and "also," while the small minus means "minus" or "without" p. 105. He notes that the plus meaning underlies many words whose basic sense contains addition, so the plus symbol can express many of them when combined with other symbols p. 231p. 230.

The plus sign is also positioned at different heights to separate meanings: in the ordinary writing position it marks ordinary addition ("and," "with"); placed down to the ground it marks ownership ("'s," as in "Father's house"); placed high up it marks addition of help ("with the help of") p. 439. Possessive pronouns are formed by adding the plus sign to personal-pronoun signs p. 439. A plus next to an owner sign can also express a close relationship such as ownership p. 440.

Beyond grammar, plus and minus carry evaluative meaning. Combined with the symbols for emotion and reason, plus and minus express emotional good/bad and rational good/bad; with exclamation marks they mean yes and no p. 584. Bliss treats good and bad, right and wrong as relative meanings that must be symbolized by a plus and a minus p. 689. He uses the same idea to picture a line divided into units of money, with debt on the minus side and savings on the plus side, and by analogy good deeds added and bad deeds subtracted p. 689.

• Why does Bliss place the plus sign at different heights in the writing line?
• How does Bliss symbolize good and bad, right and wrong?
• What words does Bliss list as containing the plus meaning?