“201. For someone who has no knowledge of such things a diagram representing the inside of a radio receiver will be a jumble of meaningless lines. But if he is acquainted with the apparatus and it’s function, that drawing will be a significant picture for him.

Given some solid figure (say in a picture) that means nothing to me at present – can I at will imagine it as meaningful? That’s as if I were asked: Can I imagine an object of any old shape as an appliance? But to be applied to what?

One class of corporeal shapes might readily be imagined as dwellings for beasts or men. Another class as weapons. Another as models of landscapes. Etc. etc. So here I know how I can ascribe meaning to a meaningless shape.”

(Wittgenstein, Zettel, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe)