When we were kids, riding in the family car, we often laughed at this emblem; we thought, before we could read, that it was not the earth being coated, but a potato! 
In the early 60s, Mad Magazine suggested merging companies’ symbols if the companies merge. They illustrated this: Suppose Dutch Boy and Sherwin-Williams were to merge? Would the symbol now have the Dutch Boy being coated with “blood-red paint”? (Or Treasure Tones, manufactured by Bishop-Conklin: The sprite, or elf, or whatever he is…)
In a book titled Signs of the Times (or a seqiel), journalist Hamish Hamilton shows a sign at a service station in England:
“WORN TYRES KILL [last word drawn to look like it’s made from skid marks]–BUY HERE!”
A laundromat nearby has a sign near the dryers that states 7 1/2 minutes for 25 cents- No Pets Allowed.
I can just see the cat spinning 'round.
also- http://www.thebunghole.com/history.htm
and the “slow down, get ticket” sign near the entrance to the NJ Turnpike. It’s usually the opposite.
I enjoy S&M trucking here in California: “Deliver this load of chastity belts and ball gags to Chowchilla, pronto!”
When pldennison and I were in our youths, we went through a phase of juvenile humor that lasted about six years. We used to drive past a place called “K & S Auto Body” in Painesville, Ohio and we always joked that the initials stood for Kock and Slit. It was funny when we were 13.
Just yesterday, I got gas at the local Shell station. They had new signs painted on their windows for various automotive repair services, including “Break Job” for $59. I guess you have to ask ahead of time if you want them to return all the pieces.
In the same vein, my younger brother thought the man on the Michelin Tire sign was a warning to stay away because mummies were in the building.
What’s with that guy anyway? Is he supposed to be made of rubber? Inflatable?
Not exactly outside stores but these just irk me.
Mens
Mens’
Men’s
I don’t know which are worstest.
A few I’ve seen over the years in East Tennessee:
**S&M Building Supply
MINNOWS
enjoy Sprite
Gamble Auto Repair
Bogus Auto Parts
Adcock Prosthetics**
…and this one, I must explain, was on a signboard with removeable letters. It would not have worked, had it not been spaced thusly:
**NOW HIRING
WAITRESSES
ALL YOU CAN EAT
7.99**
Peace,
TN*hippie
The Aussies have an affinity for puns. I have seen many places with “punny” names (sorry, I had to) like: “Thai-tanic”, “Bow Thai”, “Thai Me Up” for (obviously) Thai restaurants. And there is a place that sells bed linens and stuff called “Holy Sheet”. And there is a company of movers called “Two Guys and a Truck”, nothing like truth in advertising.
But when I was at University at ISU in Normal, Illinois I never got used to the Normal police, Normal Water, Normal Library, Normal Water, etc.
Between Gainesville (well, Waldo) and Ocala on US301, is a business with a sign “Motel - Taxidermy” now that’s an interesting combination. Not the place you’d want to try to sneak out on the bill.
On a convenience store reader board:
“We have worms”
I’ve shopped there and you can verify that I’m not “postal”
While traveling through Perryville, Arkansas, I happened to catch a hair salon with its name on the sign out front:
Curl-up and Dye
As seen in the Blues Brothers movie!
In Fairfax, Virginia, two adjacent businesses produce:
FRAN’S CAKE & CANDY CLEANERS
Cake fell on the floor? Just hustle it down to Fran’s and they’ll wipe it off!
I’ll never forget the Numero Uno in Westwood which read
“NUMBERO UNO”.
My smartassed friend assured me that the “B” was silent.
On signs across Northern Ontario:
Food
Gas
Worms
Radio ad for shotguns by Imperial Pawnshop of Massey, Ontario:
Buy now
Use now
Don’t pay for until hunting season
(Just wondering for what a shotgun might be used of outside of hunting season.)
Business name in Toronto, Ontario:
Wing On Funeral Home
Business name in Sudbury, Ontario:
** Northern Erections**
My aunt’s innocent nickname:
BJ
My cousin’s innocent nickname:
Cunny
Coud be astute marketing. Imagine a couple of friends driving past. Big Bertha says to Emaciated Eunice: “Hon, once you’ve married him, you can let yourself go.”
I have an idea for a store.
A furnishings place that sells nothing but curtains.
Called “Its curtains for YOU”