 It really doesn't make any sense. If that were true, then the ancient Egyptians would always be talking about birds and hands. Also, if it really were picture writing, we could read it. So it really didn't make any sense. It was an assumption that everybody went along with, but it just didn't make any sense. So as you point out, when you see a hand, that's a letter of the alphabet. That's the way they wrote the letter D. And if you see an owl...