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Writer's pictureC Kasimatis

Signifyn: Beyonce




Is it just me, or are certain symbols and words really confusing? I’ll be walking around campus or scrolling through social media and see a symbol or word that I have no idea what it means. And it’s worse when the word or acronym can mean two things at the same time or has a hidden message, making it even more confusing.



Signifyn is the same thing. It’s very confusing and is seen as wordplay or a hidden message. Signifyn represents an idea with indirect intent or the use of metaphors to hide the meaning. Signifyn is a rhetorical device that is used within the black community, especially back in the day when slavery was prominent. Slaves would use signyfyn to give hidden messages without their owners knowing. An example of this is that they would use certain songs to signify when there was a meeting happening and would braid maps in the women's hair when trying to escape. Today, everybody uses the signifyn I was just giving you an idea of how it started. A basic example that I can think of is the word cool. The word cool can be a signifier because, depending on the person using it, it can mean different things. If I say cool, I’m using its intention to represent something stylish or popular. If someone else uses the word cool, their intention could be to use it to represent something cool in temperature.




You get the idea. Relating it to pop culture, I recently have been getting into a lot of Beyonce and I noticed her song Formation has a lot of signifyn throughout it.



In her song Formation, Beyonce uses a lot of metaphors and black language to add multiple meanings to her personal, female, and black identities. In one part of the song, she uses the metaphor “Jackson Five nostrils” about black noses. Her use of this metaphor not only states that she is happy with her nose but also makes a statement about black noses in general that is respectful and positive considering the Jackson Five is iconic in black culture. Another example is when she says, “I like my baby hair with baby hair and afro.” In this verse, she’s not only addressing herself as liking her hair but also her daughter and all black women as being free to make their own decisions about what is beautiful to them, particularly when it comes to their hair. There are many more examples, but I’m going to get more familiar with her new album and see if I can see any other new examples of signs that she uses. Always slay and have a nice day.



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