Signs of the Times

[LNBruno]

Search is broken, so I don't know if we've gone here before.

Lately, I've taken notice of some unusual and, I'm sure often, unintended phrases in signage. Here are a few. What are some of your favorites?

Sign...

...outside a chiropractor's office: "Trying to get pregnant? We can help!"

...in front of a South Florida paving company: "If you don't like the looks of your driveway, it's your own asphalt."

...in the window of a Mexican restaurant: "Children, buy one, get one free."

...at the local dry cleaners: "Drop your pants here, $2.95."

< M!ke >
I am not a hamster and life is not a wheel.

 

[flapeyre]

In a bar:

"This is a high-class joint. Act respectable."

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.

 

[ESquared]

I just saw on a truck, on the way to work today:

PENININSULA HAULING DUMPSTER SERVICE

The side of the truck properly said Peninsula. I found it quite amusing.

[COLOR=black #d0d0d0]My alarm clock causes time travel. When I hit snooze, no apparent time passes before the alarm sounds again, but the universe has in fact moved forward through time by ten minutes![/color]

 

[LNBruno]

Not sure if personalized license plates count as a "sign," but this one cracked me up (warped, sick, and twisted as I am):

KY GIRL

< M!ke >
Your right to an opinion does not obligate me to take you seriously.
- Winston Churchill

 

[SantaMufasa]

The name of a new, very successful Brazilian barbeque place near us is:

Grill from Ipanema

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[flapeyre]

There used to be an oyster bar in the One Shell Square office bulding in New Orleans. It was called Half Shell Square (of course!)

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.

 

[lisaharris]

In the town of Riverside, NJ, you can find Hooker Street. Ironically, it's One-Way.

 

[jsteph]

KY GIRL

She probably had a dry sense of humor.
--Jim

 

[WyldeCarde]

I used to live near a pub called the Fainting Goat

Every 6 months or so they would repaint the sign, within an hour I would have altered it back to The Farting Goat, which is pretty much what everyone called it.

 

[keenanbr]

how about a few Chinglish ....

Membrane Supermarket
Yelling Dental Clinic
Natty's Hi-Tone Barbers
Center of Lawsuit
Advertisement for a new VIP club/disco called "buffalo": "The Shangri-la is always on your mind, but the buffalo is not".
Advertisement for a shopping mall: "large charge of capturing"
Another advertisement for a shopping mall: "pleasanty surprise of groping"
Sign for Hair Dresser (2 bald women): Hairy Fur Box by Korea

 

[BobRodes]

My all time favorite bumper sticker, seen in Sedona, AZ: "ANKH if you love ISIS"

Second place: "I am Keyser Soze"

But I must say that yesterday I saw one that is up there, the "don't taze me, bro" bumper sticker

http://www.billoreilly.com/store

(top of page, free with any purchase).

 

[flapeyre]

Another bumper sticker like that one:

"ISIS, ISIS - RA, RA, RA!"

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.

 

[thefourthwall]

I tend to think it was there for a good reason. They probably had a regular one, "We're open 7 days a week" before, but still got asked every day if they were open Sundays. Did you ever ask them?

Exactly right. I did once ask the store manager about the commercial and he told me of dozens of inquiries in the past, since the phrase 'open 7 days a week' wasn't clear enough, apparently. I can only speak for myself, but '7 days a week' seemed pretty unambiguous. Forgive me for the delay in replying, the past several weeks have mostly been travel for me.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Another of my favourite bumper snickers:

Sorry...My Karma ran over your Dogma.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[donbott]

The daily comic "Herman" had one, a guy in a sign shop working on a sign:
Key
Pout

as his boss shakes his head

DonBott

Does not play well with others

 

[lisaharris]

In Riverside, NJ you can find Hooker Street. Ironically, it's One-Way.

 

[p5wizard]

Uh lisaharris... I got it the first time around...

p5

 

[grande]

how about a few Chinglish ....

Is it odd that I find Chinglish more offensive than Engrish? Weird...

But, to add to your list, I've always loved the picture of the ten-year old Asian kid wearing a shirt that says "Too Drunk to F***."

-------------------------
Matt Grande
C# Master.
Ruby on Rails Admirer.
ActionScript Student.
JavaScript Hate-Monger.

 

[SantaMufasa]

...the ten-year old Asian kid wearing a shirt...

The moral to the story: don't wear a t-shirt that has foreign words or writing that you don't understand.


The turn-about-is-fair-play award goes to the Asian trickster that gave a t-shirt to an American religious volunteer who had come to Asia on a 4-week service mini-mission. The American understood no Chinese or its writing, so he received many amused looks from locals when they read the message on his shirt:

Looking for an Asian Babe to Lay.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[BobRodes]

By the way, flapeyre, I looked up your quote, since my Latin wasn't quite up to it. Very funny! Here's another for you: Tam exanimis quam tunica nehru fio.

 

[flapeyre]

Bob,

The second-to-last word gave that one away.

Solum potestis prohibere ignes silvarum.