Slip
slip (glisser [vb], glissement [n.]) Lacan uses the verb 'slip' (and its
corresponding noun, 'slippage') to describe the unstable relationship between
the signifier and the signified. The term thus emphasises the different ways in
which Saussure and Lacan conceive of SIGNIFICATION; for Saussure, significa-
tion was a stable bond between signifier and signified, but for Lacan it is an
unstable, fluid relationship. It is impossible to establish a stable one-to-one link
between signifiers and signifieds, and Lacan symbolises this by inscribing a bar
between them in the Saussurean algorithm (see Figure 18, p.184). The signified
slips and slides under the bar of the Saussurean algorithm are in a continuous
movement (E, 154), a movement which is only temporarily detained by the
POINTSDE CAPITON. When there are not enough points de capiton, as is the case in
PSYCHOSIs, the slippery movement of signification is endless, and stable mean-
ings dissolve altogether.