# Amusing Signs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 3, 2024, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074 "2024-02-03T19:04:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/241 "2024-02-14T18:32:47Z")
I thought that if pulled over, my story would have been that I’m removing and clearing trash. I wonder if that would have worked. Fortunately I didn’t have to find out. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/242 "2024-02-14T18:50:55Z")
There was a Shell station outside of Ellicot City where the S had been broken so it said **HELL**. I wish I’d taken a picture of it. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/243 "2024-02-14T19:46:09Z")
Motel Hell (and cafe). [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/NnVfe9r.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/NnVfe9r) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/244 "2024-02-14T23:57:39Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Interesting…I’ve been there (or at least to the museum nearby? Pretty sure we were on the radio telescope grounds, I know we got a tour that showed some) and don’t remember my very ordinary car being restricted in any way from driving to their parking lot. Well, obviously, the parking lot has to be outside of the area of that restriction, or nobody’d ever be able to get there. When I was there, at least, the sign was just past the outer parking lot. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/245 "2024-02-15T02:29:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > When I was there, at least, the sign was just past the outer parking lot. Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/246 "2024-02-15T06:36:36Z")
At a local corner store gas station: [[Album] D'oh! ![](https://i.imgur.com/5B9x5YH.jpeg?fb "D") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/Grwebkw) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/247 "2024-02-15T13:48:05Z")
W’hyd sign say same thing too time’s? Sign d’idnt have too say same thing 2 time’s?! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/248 "2024-02-15T16:37:49Z")
There is a difference in pronounciation between _don’t_ and _d’ont_. As pointed out, the latter is expressed forcefully, like _d’oh_. This is meant to express regret. And by saying it twice, profound regret. The highest level of apology is followed by an _¡Ay, Caramba!_ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/249 "2024-02-15T17:42:28Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > W’hyd sign say same thing too time’s? Sign d’idnt have too say same thing 2 time’s?! We’re gonna need a bigger cartoon. [![](https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/apostrophe.jpg?x91208) ](https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/apostrophe.jpg?x91208) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/250 "2024-02-15T17:46:25Z")
I believe that’s known as the “grocer’s apostrophe”! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/251 "2024-02-15T18:36:31Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I skimmed this thread quickly, so I hope this isn’t a repeat. > > I was in Austria (Vienna) recently and I saw this sign all over the place. I believe it means this is a “No Child Abduction Zone” > > [Seen in Salzburg Vienna. Anyone know what this means? “Men in hats can’t hold hands with little girls?” - Imgur](https://imgur.com/G1T1RW4) As noted by others this is “end of footpath”, and there is a corresponding sign “footpath” without the slash. (the meaning of the “footpath” sign is specifically: no vehicle traffic of any kind permitted, specifically bicycles must not drive here). What’s remarkable about this Austrian sign is that the corresponding German was changed _in 1970_ to replace the adult man with an adult woman (in silhouette, like the Austrian sign; replaced with stick figures in the 1990s). [Current German sign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Zeichen_239_-_Sonderweg_Fu%C3%9Fg%C3%A4nger%2C_StVO_1992.svg/800px-Zeichen_239_-_Sonderweg_Fu%C3%9Fg%C3%A4nger%2C_StVO_1992.svg.png) The reason was the very concern voiced in this thread: “stranger danger”. There was a moral panic in Germany about male strangers molesting children in the 1960s - my parents and my primary school teachers all warned me about strange men (nowadays we know that non-strange men are the main danger). Compared with Germany, the Austrian sign is so far behind the curve that now it is probably ahead of the curve (because the German sign assumes traditional gender roles)… ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/252 "2024-02-15T18:54:13Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > Compared with Germany, the Austrian sign is so far behind the curve that now it is probably ahead of the curve (because the German sign assumes traditional gender roles)… But nobody wears a hat anymore, not even in Austria… ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/253 "2024-02-15T19:03:08Z")
They might have to add electric car prohibitions to that sign, considering the possibility of EMF interference from all the electronics and of course the big electric motors. But the sign is funny. It looks like it’s saying “no stun guns” or “no phasers”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/254 "2024-02-15T21:52:17Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > This sign was posted in the bathroom at a house I rented. I think the owner was not a native English speaker. I hypothesized that a “famine napkin” is a napkin you use when you’re really really hungry. > > [https://photos.app.goo.gl/1SR4n2DpD7W2g7T19](https://photos.app.goo.gl/1SR4n2DpD7W2g7T19) Googling for the phrase “famine napkins” I got some results Malaysia and Indonesia, and North Macedonia but also some from the US [https://www.lynntwp.org/pdfs/Ontelaunee%20Park%20Form.pdf](https://www.lynntwp.org/pdfs/Ontelaunee%20Park%20Form.pdf) - list item 16 on the third page In all of these sources the authors see no need to define the term “famine napkin”. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/255 "2024-02-15T22:11:54Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > In all of these sources the authors see no need to define the term “famine napkin”. I assume no one had much appetite for the task. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/256 "2024-02-15T22:56:11Z")
This is just what The Crimson Permanent Assurance want you to believe! ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/257 "2024-02-16T13:27:57Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > W’hyd sign say same thing too time’s? Sign d’idnt have too say same thing 2 time’s?! lots of latinos in that sector … that’s why they did it in english and spanish /s ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/258 "2024-02-16T13:32:46Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I skimmed this thread quickly, so I hope this isn’t a repeat. > > I was in Austria (Vienna) recently and I saw this sign all over the place. I believe it means this is a “No Child Abduction Zone” > > [Seen in **Salzburg Vienna. Anyone know what this means?** “Men in hats can’t hold hands with little girls?” - Imgur](https://imgur.com/G1T1RW4) bolding mine … not only the sign is amusing, the post as well (that’s like saying: Seen in New York Chicago) ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/259 "2024-02-16T14:20:38Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > bolding mine … > > not only the sign is amusing, the post as well > > (that’s like saying: Seen in New York Chicago) I didn’t have a photo (I regretted not taking one as soon as I left) so I just google searched for one and that’s what I found from some Reddit thread. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074/260 "2024-02-17T02:00:27Z")
The caption is humorous but it’s a real thing. [![](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/v200/f9d745ed21f0a60346633aae8f9f5c17) ](https://images.spot.im/image/upload/v200/f9d745ed21f0a60346633aae8f9f5c17) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amusing-signs/997074.md?page=14)