Interesting Signs..

[Flutterby]

This came to me when reading the Obvious warnings thread. What are some interesting signs you've seen? Like funny things or signs that didn't belong somewhere but were funny.
I'll go first. Now downtown here in Calgary there is an A&W in one of the malls. When you go to their bathroom (which you need a key to unlock btw) on the women's bathroom there is a sign that says "Customer Parking Only"

What are some interesting signs you've seen?

[KimKatt]

Topaz, I took this picture on a trip to Ireland, and submitted it to a "Weird Pictures" site:

http://www.jokeaday.com/nfweird149.shtml

[Ozone]

At the D.I. (kind of like the Salvation Army) in my town, there was a big sign out front for about a month that read

WOMEN'S BLOUSES HALF OFF!

:eek:

[Joe_Cool]

On NJ Rt 46 Westbound in either Lodi or Saddle Brook, NJ (I think), there is a light right in front of McDonalds.

At this light, there are two traffic control signs right next together on the same pole that say:
"No Left Turn" and "Left Lane Must Turn Left"

HUH?!

I'll take a picture of it and post a link tomorrow.

[Enginerd]

On I-81 North of Scranton, PA is a sign that says

Endless Mountain Region
Next 5 Exits

I always want to pull over and replace the "5" with an infinity symbol.

[Minxsmom]

For the life of me I can't remember which town in PA this is, it's somewhere by my Dad's house in the Poconos, but the local cemetery has a sign.

Town Cemetery
No Hunting


This sign just slays me every time I drive by - and I always forget to bring a camera to take a picture of it.

[ThisYearsGirl]

This isn't a street sign, but once on a road trip (I believe this was in Alabama), there was a sign on a gas station men's bathroom that read "Caution! Door May Be Hot!" Does anyone know what that one means?

[SilentKnight]

Slow children playing

[Kat]

One of the fire doors at work has a sign on it that says "CAUTION! DOOR IS ALARMED!" Apparently, I'm the only person in northern Illinois who knows that "alarmed" can mean something other than "equipped with an alarm", because I always get funny looks if I make a comment about the sign.

[SPOOFE]

My brother got a bunch of pictures of odd signs, and the most memorable of the bunch is one that says "Do Not Hump Under Any Circumstances". I sent a copy of this picture to two of my hornier friends.

[Myron Van Horowitzski]

Cecil explains here (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_402b.html).

[whitetho]

On route 29 in southern Virginia, travellers in both directions are informed by a big sign:
----------------------
Hurt
Next Two Exits
----------------------

I always thought this would be a perfect title for a Country & Western song.

[Garfield226]

I have a collage of weird road signs that I made for driver's ed class. Now. . . how to get make it available to whoever on here wants it. . . I suppose I could just describe some of them.

[Gazoo]

I always find this one amusing...

On a main street in our town are two billboards next to each other. On the right is one of a man getting a mug shot taken, his face has been cut out and in its place are the words "your face here." Under this it says something to the effect of "When she says no, she means no." The sign on the right is for the maternity ward at the local hospital proclaiming "Every baby is a miracle."

[Biggirl]

Not a sign, but a banner advertising for a charitable organization. The banner read:

Please donate free food.

I wondered whether they wanted only food that I didn't pay for or whether the food they were selling was free of all donates.

[zut]

I saw a sign at a local Community Center (a BIG sign, too) that read,

SENIORS: FREE PROSTATE EXAM ->

Only, instead of the arrow (->), they used a "pointing finger" dingbat. With big, oversized fingers.

[BigGiantHead]

My favorite was one of those temporary electric signs with the letters you attach yourself, in Norwich, CT. It stood in front of a body shop, had lost a letter and for months after read:
"WE WILL EAT ANY ESTIMATE."



Oh, and BTW ThisYearsGirl, was the sign on an outside door with a partial or fully southerly face? Because down South heah, in full sunlight it could easily reach a temperature of 3 or 4 hundred degrees.

[Spoke]

I've taken a few pictures of odd signs I have seen. My favorites:

1. A drug store in south Georgia, apparently owned by a family with the last name Strange. Resulting sign on the front of the pharmacy: STRANGE DRUGS

2. A sign with the caption INVISIBLE FENCE, posted on a fence which was clearly visible. (Wishful thinking maybe. Or the Emperor's new fence?)

3. A real estate sign in the front yard of a home under construction in Atlanta, reading SPACIOUS INTERIOR! MUST SEE INSIDE!. The problem? The sign was positioned right in front of a Port-o-potty sitting on the lawn.

[panamajack]

Up near Mt. Shasta, just off I-5 is the town of Weed, California.
Also accessible from one of the exits for Weed is a local college (College of the Siskiyous, I believe.) One is to the west of the highway, the other to the east. There was a sign at the end of the offramp that was simply labeled :

Weed ->
<- College

Or maybe it was just a public service announcement.

Incidentally I knew someone who was from weed, and went to Weed High. Their favorite cheer : "Weed High is the best high is the best high you can get!"

panama jack

_____________

Not the one who stole the sign.

[CalMeacham]

Not a Weird Sign, really, but a weird reaction on my part:

Driving down I-95 through Providence, I saw a sign:


No Exit 5


My immediate reaction was not that Exit 5 was closed, but "Sequelmania strikes Jean-Paul Sartre"

[Necros]

And then, of course, there's this site...
http://www.lumine.net/engrish/index.html

[Tally-Ho]

A local furniture store's sign lost a few "E's" and so read Hug Sal (always wondered who Sal was... ;) )

Our local Albertson's (grocery chain) suffered from a little vandelism. Their window sign used to say ...OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK. Now it says OPEN 7 DAYS A WIF.
My SO and I always half to resist asking the clerks what a wif is.

Chrisbar

[Medea's Child]

My Favorite sign is in the plant where I work. Due to QS-9000 EVERYTHING is labeled and has yellow lines around where it is supposed to be. (Tape, Chair, some of the engineers have an outline on their chair of a behind labeled with thier job title) This is interested enough for a work environment but hanging from the ceiling in one spot is a big sign saying "Trip hazard below" and every time I have seen it it has been swinging wildly. Either the trip hazard moves a lot or people have been falling into the sign.

Another fun one was on teh rfront door for a community center "Low Self esteem sufferers meeting tonight. Please use back door."

[Spoke]

Oh yeah, and then there's the hardware store up in north Georgia called S&M SUPPLY. I'm guessing they get a lot of weird phone calls...

[Max Torque]

Now THIS is a properly-strange sign: Stop Casting Porosity (http://milkyway.ssl.berkeley.edu/davea/porosity.html).

Another one I've been meaning to photograph: on the drive from Pojoaque to Los Alamos, New Mexico, you travel along some twisting mountain roads with sheer cliffs rising and falling right next to the road. At one point, there are some steep rocky hills; the part nearest the road is made mostly of pumice. There's a brief break in the pumice, through which you can look to the hills above, and there, on a pile of rock, is: a yellow diamond highway sign with a picture of a cow on it. Very profound, in an inexplicable way.

[Modian]

Found this on Snopes yesterday:

There's a town in Austria called F-cking. If thats not funny enough, the sign outside the town (which has been stolen many times) says:

Welcome to F-cking, Austria.

Ignore the comma and I rolled.

[Modian]

Oh, and another one that used to be in the US Postal Services headquarters on two of the doors:

CAUTION: DOOR OPENS

eh? You mean doors do other things?

[MissMonica7]

On my way to my best friends house in Nazareth, PA, I drive up Rt. 100 North. I notice at one point in the trip there are these signs simply saying "Stop Panda" every mile or so, then they stop. These signs are just along the road, by themselves, or at the end of people's driveways. What does this mean????? Are they mad at panda bears? Are the pandas bothering some people? The thing is too, is that it probably has nothing to do with panda bears b/c I'm driving through rural PA, and there shouldnt be any pandas around for many miles...

[2nd Law]

Back in my home town a business on the edge of town had a sign out front

Lemmen's Used Cars

I always wondered how he chose to go into that line of work.

[Smeghead]

Above the urinals in the men's restroom in a Beijing restaraunt:
"Please Mang Out After Shit"
Our entire group, including women, went back there to get pictures. I'm sure the locals thought we were insane. Does anybody know what "Mang" means? Or why Chinese shit in urinals?

Also, outside a town named Beaver (I kid you not) a sign advertising the local Wendy's. Yes, that's right. It said quite plainly, "Wendy's Beaver."
My friend and I spent the rest of the road trip menally making additions to it. Like, "Fast, friendly service."

[Sneevil]

There's a sign on the main street in my hometown that reads:

"Quick Lube
in Rear"

[Smeghead]

MenTally!! Damn damn damn. Why do I always notice those right as I hit the submit button?

[Dumbguy]

In the parking lot of a junior college:

'Midget Racing Prohibited'

I'm not sure if the fact it was a junior college is relevant or not.

[neutron star]

On I-10 just outside of New Orleans, the big green sign above the road reads "NO International Airport." Damn, I wanted to fly somewhere. Guess I'll just have to turn around and go home if there's no airport. (NO stands for New Orleans, of course. I still think they should have written it out to avoid confusion.)

[bibliophage]

SLOW
WORKERS
AHEAD

[DRY]

This actually could be put here or under the recent "practical jokes for fun and revenge" thread.

A former co-worker once told me that a male friend of hers once caught a former SO "catting around".

So they stole a road sign and placed it, as prominently as possible, right under her window.

No, not "MEN WORKING"

"OPEN TRENCH" :p

[xizor]

The 3 that I remember:
Somewhere in Utica, Mich. behind an office building is a sign that says "Parking for Blind People Only"
At a 7-11 I stopped in (somewhere in Ohio) was "Express Lane - 179 items or less"
And in a bar called The Shack in Marina Del Rey, CA is a sign that says "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, no matter who you are, who you think you are, what movie you've been in or who your daddy is"

[Spoke]

Also, outside a town named Beaver (I kid you not) a sign advertising the local Wendy's. Yes, that's right. It said quite plainly, "Wendy's Beaver."

This reminds me of my travels through Kentucky. Apparently, in this one particular area, there are salt deposits, and wild animals have established "salt licks" there.

Result: Beaver Lick, Kentucky. I kid you not. I have a T shirt from the Beaver Lick Trading Post. It's easy to find. It's near the Big Bone Lick State Park. (So named for the mammoth bones found there. Apparently, ancient elephants were into the salt deposits, too.)

[labdude]

Sign in front of the only gay bar in town.
.
.
.
Parking in Rear.
.
.
The bar is downtown, and thats really where the parking is located.

[Dinsdale]

On the way to my sisters' in Elmhurst, IL I used to pass a dental office, and the dentist's name, prominently posted, was Dr. D. Kay.

I enjoyed a sign at a golden Nugget offering a one price special for "All you care to eat." Given the quality of their offerings ...

Just this spring, leaving Mammoth Cave we passed (but did not patronize to my lasting regret) the "Mt. Golgotha Fun Park." Yep. Nothing says F-U-N like crucifying the son of God!

[kayT]

Sign at an intersection, directly below a traffic signal, "No Stopping Any Time." But officer....

Kentucky Fried Chicken store has been completely torn down. In the middle of the lot is a pile of dirt. A KFC sign at the front of the lot says "Store Being Remodeled to Serve You Better." Yeah.

[jayron 32]

There is a town south of Chicago called Beecher. Apparently (and this is hearsay, as I've never seen it, but I have heard several sources who supposedly have) there is a machine shop there named "Beecher Tool and Die"


Still, my favorite sign of all time is the sign which can be seen at some borders of Maryland, though specifically at the Maryland/Delaware border along Elkton Rd (DE-2, MD-279) that reads "Welcome to Maryland -- Please Drive Gently" It always causes me a little chuckle, and I always gingerly hold the steering wheel with two fingers, and say to my passenger "Look, I'm driving gently" Just when you thought the people who write chinese restaurant menus have no other jobs...

[Odieman]

In Saskatchewan there is a town called Eybrow and they have a service station called Eybrow Garage. I always have a mental image of someones 'brow being put on the hoist and getting a lube job.

At a Wendy's in Minot ND 20 years ago they had a sign that said "At Wendy's we can make it 99 different ways".
Keith

[Vanix]

In Montgomery, Alabama there is a park with a large pond upon whose banks one can find a sign reading:

BEWARE OF SWANS

[Shaky Jake]

Outside Boston is a short stretch of highway that is both I-95 and (state) Route 128. You pass a sign that reads:

I-95 North
128 South

It always struck me as funny.

Down the road from my house in Durham, NC is a place that sells headstones, as in cemetary. The sign reads:

Before you go
Call Joe


Shaky Jake

[JimmyNipples]

In Salmon Arm BC Canada, where I live, there is a windshield repair shop called....CrackMaster

Beautiful

[Spiny Norman]

The French habit of putting up a sign on exit roads saying "Toutes directions" (i.e., "All directions") is always good for a chuckle. OTOH, I actually prefer their careful habit when there are several possibilities: One sign will point to, say, Lyon, and the other will be labelled "Autres directions" (you guessed it: "Other directions").

Sure, if you DON'T want to go to Lyon, you'll know where to go.

The logic is unassailable, and yet...

[jayron 32]

Outside Boston is a short stretch of highway that is both I-95 and (state) Route 128. You pass a sign
that reads:

I-95 North
128 South

Speaking as an ex-patriate New Englander and life-long roadgeek:

Actually, it's I-93 North/128 South... I-95 South is 128 South. IIRC, western Virginia has I-81 South/I-77 North. In both of these cases (I-93/MA-128 and I-81/I-77) the road pretty much goes due east-west.

[Altair_8800]

I live in the rural South, and during the summer it's common to see the locals setting up their own produce stands and placing "billboards" (painted plywood) by the side of the road to advertise their goods. I saw this one recently on Highway 117:

Bodacious Sweet Corn For Sale ==>

[panamajack]

Kind of funny sign I saw recently :

There's a church nearby that puts up a sign with (presumably) the preacher for that week and the topic of the sermon. A few weeks back I saw on the sign :

Pastor Seeley
Mankind's Greatest Mistake



But then, a few weeks later :

Pastor Seeley
God's Gift to Man

[handy]

SLOW CHILDREN PLAYING. But we have another one thats been in a window here for years, POLICE: CLOSE DOOR TO SHUT OFF ALARM.

[friedo]

Above a urinal in a bar:

Express lane: Three beers or less

[Scarlett67]

When my locally-owned bank relocated to a new building, they found a bronze plaque in the basement of the old building. It's now prominently displayed in the new lobby:

THIS BANK IS EQUIPPED WITH STEEL GUN TURRETS, ARMORED SHIELDS, AND GAS BOMBS

ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO ROB THIS BANK WILL BE CAPTURED

I love going to a bank with a sense of humor.

[Montfort]

Up along I-95 in northeast Maryland, there's a sign near Aberdeen for the Decoy Museum. I've always wondered where the real museum was, and why they needed to have a fake one to protect it.

[The Tof]

I have a picture of this somewhere.. but can't find it. I was passing by a KFC which read on their billboard outside.. "Extra Tasty Crispy Help Wanted."

And (gosh I hope I can do justice to this sign... It kills me every time I see it.).. In Portland, there is a spot just at an I5 onramp where there is a big break in the sidewalk...

Right before it is a big yellow sign with a little stick man flipping over his bicycle.. and sign that says simply.. "CRACK"

screeme

[Gunslinger]

In South Louisiana (near Avery Island, home of Tabasco sauce) there were signs along the side of a road proclaiming: NO DUMPING BROKEN CONCRETE...completely surrounded by chunks of concrete.

[Flutterby]

*laughs reading these* These are funny! Thanks for replying people!

['Hoops]

In Omaha, Nebraska (and probably lots of other places too) there are a few places where the city planners have made a little turn off to the right side of the road that circles back to cross the main street. The result is that they have street signs that read:

"Go Right to Turn Left"

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Gunslinger
In South Louisiana (near Avery Island, home of Tabasco sauce) there were signs along the side of a road proclaiming: NO DUMPING BROKEN CONCRETE...completely surrounded by chunks of concrete.

My mom just got back from S. LA. She drove down that same road, and saw neither the signs nor the concrete. And she was looking for it, so she could take a picture of it. The first time was about 3 years ago, BTW.

[BrothaTJ]

Oh my god I've never laughed this hard in my life...thanks to all of you for adding your signs!
The only funny one I can think of is the aforementioned "Slow children playing" signs. Every time we pass them, my friends and I say "Gee that's a shame"

[2sense]

I always find the I-69 signs funny, but my favorite is just north of Pittsburgh in Beaver County.

"This Exit -Penn State Beaver Campus"

[SarumanRex]

I saw a photograph that won a Pulitzer prize back in 1969. Some background: In 1969 Cornell University had a building (the Straight student union) taken over by several armed black radicals who were demanding more African Studies at Cornell. They refused to leave the Straight for a few days but eventually they reached a peaceful agreement with the school. The prize winning photograph depicts the radicals leaving the building carrying shotguns over their shoulders. In the background there was a huge banner that read, "Welcome Parents". Apparantly the radicals had chosen parent's weekend to carry out the infamous Straight takeover and no one had taken down the sign.
After I saw that my favorite phrase to complaining freshman became, "Welcome to Cornell", for example:
"I went to my exam expecting to get the full twelve inches only to find out that there was actually fourteen."
Welcome to Cornell.
"A drunken co-ed just came into my room and took her clothes off, she then pissed on my basketball and proceded to pass out."
Welcome to Cornell.
Why is it snowing in October?
Welcome to Cornell.

[Lsura]

The "Strange Pharmacy" reminded me of this one.

I grew up in Chattanooga, TN, and for many years the "Hemlock Pharmacy" existed on a main thoroughfare. Unfortunately, they've gone out of business. Hmmmm. Wonder why??

Then, when I went to college in Maine, on my way to school, I saw "Yankee Shooting Supplies". Thought about stopping by since I figured it was open season on Yankees. ;)


-Lsura

[hflathead]

The little mom & pop sore had a big sign out front
'Bunnies and Levis'
just shake my head because I still don't get the connection....

BTW, The warning sign for swans you should heed, they are quite nasty and capable of breaking bones! Damn near killed my father-in-laws big male swan with a 5 gallon bucket, protecting my then 3 year old son.

later, Tom

[hflathead]

guess that blows my sig....
later, Tom