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.