Linguistic symbols are used in three different types of situations: (1) immediate, (2) displaced, and (3) transferred. Immediate symbolization occurs when the speaker employs a form in response to some factor in the immediate environment. For example, when a person spies a rat running across the floor and exclaims 'Look! There's a rat!' the employement of symbols is in response to an immediate situation. When the same person speaks of his experience the next day, he uses displaced symbols, for the action to which he is referring is not the immediate environment. [...] The meanings of forms in a displaced context demand fuller explanation.
- Nida (1949), a pag.161