There are a lot of clever people who compose amusing signs and billboards. There are many, many more people who try to do so without much success. Most of these are really good, so am posting it here. But what are your favourite examples personally seen?
Posting so I can see when theres new posts
Theres a pizza place too far for me called East of Chicago pizza in Barberton that has good sign humor.
I’ve seen it a few different places. A friend has an old, tattered and faded sign in his bar that says, FREE BEER TOMORROW.
It’s been there for decades. Occasionally someone comes back the next day and is disappointed to learn it’s a joke.
There’s a little place close to me. Bluff city. Known for its cemetery. Which is basically the whole place. Used to be Reader RR near but it’s gone now.
On the corner of the one intersection is a standing concrete and stone staircase. No building there.
Some joker had a sign put up that says Stairs to Nowhere
There’s a street near my neighborhood called “Equestrian Ave” - on one intersection there an additional sign under it saying “No Horses”, which is ironic.
Furthermore there are wild horses roaming the hills nearby who often come down to munch on the lawns. If I see a horse standing under this sign (double ironic) I’ll get a picture.
ABS Global (formerly known as American Breeders Service) is a company that supplies frozen bovine semen, for use in artificially inseminating beef cattle and dairy cattle.
Their headquarters is located just north of Madison, WI, and is directly east of Interstate 39/90/94; I used to regularly drive past their headquarters. For decades, they have used a sign, well in view of the interstate, to feature puns related to cows and insemination. A few examples:
Also from Wisconsin: Koss Stereophones, located in northern Milwaukee, along Interstate 43, also has a long tradition of funny, often punny, billboards placed outside of their headquarters. I drive past there every time I go to and from visiting my parents in Green Bay – the bottom-most example below, based on “American Gothic,” was there when I drove through Milwaukee this past Christmas.
Two signs I personally enjoyed include a “No Brawling” sign in a Sydney park in Australia, and a sign saying something like “Moose Crossing, next 200km” on the part of the TransCanada Highway that goes north of Lake Superior.
There’s a place near here that I’m pretty sure is a not-a-head-shop, that used to always have witticisms on an easel chalkboard out front. My favorite one I can remember:
Thanks for that great link! Lots of good stuff there. My particular favourite is “I did my own research”, engraved on a headstone!
A few from my collection. Japanese attempts at English signs are often amusing…
The Japanese are also very set in their ways, don’t expect them to adapt!
Surprising weather from hell …
This is not a sign, but an actual Verizon ad. Yes, who would want to use sluggish electricity for your internet connection when light travels so much faster!
And finally, two open-and-shut cases:
There was a store in Barbados that put (their idea of) a witticism on a chalk board out front every day. When Oscar Pistorius was on trial, the sign one day said, “Oscar Pistorius: he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
I tried to copy a sign from the aforementioned Barberton pizza. It says Give your woman a 12 inch for Valentines.
no thank you.
FYI, you can be notified of new posts if you change “normal” to “watching” below the last post.
I’ve been saving funny signs for years.
There’s a Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin, Texas, that’s become known on the net for their signs (to me, they run about 50% amusing, 50% meh, but that’s my personal taste).
I wish I still had (or could find) the picture, but …
My husband and I went to Banff many years ago, and in driving around exploring we came across a pull-out area with lovely views. There were two signs:
Scenic Overlook
Caution! Avalanche Area!
Most of the skyscrapers in downtown Chicago have portable “Danger: Falling Ice” signs that they put out during and just after snowy/icy weather, as a CYA defense against lawsuits by pedestrians struck by said ice that gets shed by the buildings.
But, I’ve seen a couple of buildings that use this sillier version of the sign: