Connotation & Denotation, Sans Serifs & Serifs

Denotation: The actual names for certain parts of a magazine. E.g. the title of the magazine is actually called Masthead.
Connotation: The reason why the editors have done this.  E.g. Using the colour red connotates that something is "dangerous" or "hot".

Sans Serifs: Means "without" and is a font that has no "extra bits" that stick out on each lettering. E.g. the font Verdana is a sans serif

Serifs: Means "with" therefore serifs are fonts with "extra bits" that stick out on each lettering. E.g. the font Times New Roman is a Serif font.

Sans Serifs fonts are known to be more "modern" and sometimes not as informal as Serifs fonts.

Serifs fonts are known to be more formal and more traditional, and that is why serifs fonts are usually used for more serious media texts like newspapers.