# "Can't you read the sign?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340 "2015-01-20T01:41:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/61 "2015-01-21T04:19:34Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > I think some of us have mastered the art of editing; I can actually read the newspaper, watch TV and navigate in the world while ignoring ads and noticing things that I need to notice. Is that an unusual talent? Do you? Most of the times the things you don’t notice don’t provide an instant consequence to let you know you didn’t notice them. And do you really keep track of every time you pulled on a door instead of pushing, every time you missed something while you were reading and had to go back, every time you missed the sign to the road you needed to turn on, every time you’ve been looking for your keys or whatever and they were right in front of you? I’ve never seen anyone who actually notices everything. They only notice what they are expecting to notice. If you aren’t expecting a restaurant to be closed on Mondays, and you are multitasking in any way, I do not find it hard to believe you wouldn’t notice the sign. And I definitely don’t believe most people pay any attention to the perfunctory greetings on phone calls–not that the people who say them enunciate clearly after saying it the 1000th time anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/62 "2015-01-21T04:52:14Z")
You guys are familiar with the signs (and other stuff) at [engrish.com](http://engrish.com), right? ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/63 "2015-01-21T04:53:37Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And I definitely don’t believe most people pay any attention to the perfunctory greetings on phone calls–not that the people who say them enunciate clearly after saying it the 1000th time anyways. Today, my husband’s doctor office called me to leave an appointment reminder for tomorrow. I am female and have a female voice and name. My husband is male and has a male voice. There is NO reason she should have talked to me, and I think it might have been a HIPPA violation. Back when I worked a small branch library, I put signs up everywhere. I had them laminated and taped them on the counters. People would lean their elbows on the signs to ask me the check out requirements. Don’t even get me started on my retail experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/64 "2015-01-21T05:52:00Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > I think some of us have mastered the art of editing; I can actually read the newspaper, watch TV and navigate in the world while ignoring ads and noticing things that I need to notice. Is that an unusual talent? What **BigT** said. All of us use the talent you describe to some degree, but if you can do it perfectly, then it’s not just unusual its freakish. ---
**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/65 "2015-01-21T12:29:51Z")
Reminds me of an ‘social-experiment’ some retail store did upon itself a number of years ago. Ya know how some clothing/Dept stores will plaster their front windows with “50% off” signs so dense its hard to even see in the windows? One store tried out the approach of having _just_ the 50% portion in large size, and then underneath in smaller but easily readable from 10 yards away, it further stated that prices werre marked 50% above normal cost. Those items within store’s clothe’s racks that had the 50% signs on them (and lacking the statement of being higher cost than normal sold at higher-than-usual rate w/ customers oblivious to what they had fallen for. Talk about not paying attention to signs, LOL. No time to try and find the story/cite right now, but it made semi-national news at that time as a ‘customer beware’-type of story. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Holdsworth_Effect)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/66 "2015-01-21T13:05:16Z")
I’ve been told that signs are only noticed for about three days, then are “not seen”. We used to have “turn off your cellphones” signs in exam rooms. They were pretty much ignored. I began saying “let me give you some privacy” if people answered them during their 20 minute appointment for which they had waited sometime several weeks. (It’s no longer much of an issue, for some reason). ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/67 "2015-01-21T16:14:04Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > What **BigT** said. All of us use the talent you describe to some degree, but if you can do it perfectly, then it’s not just unusual its freakish. I didn’t say I was perfect at it. But the post I was responding to seemed to say it was impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/68 "2015-01-21T17:22:16Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > The thing about signs is that our world is plastered with text. Signs are everywhere, and if we stopped to read each and every sign we’d move at a literal snail’s pace. And so everyone ignores most signs, because there’s no other option, signs are just part of the ignorable background noise of life. But that trains your brain to ignore signs, except sometimes the signs really are important and you really do have to read them. In addition, many signs are poorly maintained, out of date, so poorly written as to be incomprehensible, or are just flat-out wrong. All of these reinforce the tendency the ignore or disbelieve signs. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/69 "2015-01-21T17:43:20Z")
I think the thing that interferes with most people’s sign-reading ability is the idea that they’re right and that the employees are stupid. So they come up to the gas pump and it has a sign on there that it’s out of order. Well, they need gas and it’s probably out of date and the lazy employee didn’t remove the sign, so they rip the sign off. Why isn’t it working NOW? Well the stupid employee must have forgotten to turn it on, so I better remind them. Out of order totally? But that means I was wrong! I can’t admit that to a stupid minimum wage employee so I’ll throw a fit as a last ditch effort to get them to fix it for me so I can say I was right all along! That is basically what I assume the mindset of these people to be. There’s also the mindset of “it’s easiest to just ask the counter person something than engage my brain to read the signs here”. Then there’s also entitlement: my time is worth more than their time, the customer is always right, they’re here to wait hand and foot on me, not defer to making me go through the “effort” of reading, etc. There are of course some who are just zoned out and didn’t read it and aren’t jerkfaces, and you can tell who they are because they get sheepish or ticked off at themselves if the sign is pointed out to them. No problem there. There are some people I’m sure who are just…slow. They just don’t think ahead. As in, it doesn’t matter how many times they accidentally enter a closed lane at the grocery store, they’ll never grasp that they should be scanning for signs that say “lane closed” when picking a lane to walk into. Same sort of people that don’t anticipate that they need to pay for their groceries and so are surprised and not ready with their money when it comes to this step of the transaction. Any non sign-reader can be any combination of the above traits… ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/70 "2015-01-21T17:43:31Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > Today, my husband’s doctor office called me to leave an appointment reminder for tomorrow. I am female and have a female voice and name. My husband is male and has a male voice. There is NO reason she should have talked to me, and I think it might have been a HIPPA violation. Well, there’s no such thing as HIPPA, but under [HIPAA](http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/faq/disclosures_to_friends_and_family/198.html), > [@](#): > > A covered entity also may leave a message with a family member or other person who answers the phone when the patient is not home. The Privacy Rule permits covered entities to disclose limited information to family members, friends, or other persons regarding an individual’s care, even when the individual is not present. However, covered entities should use professional judgment to assure that such disclosures are in the best interest of the individual and limit the information disclosed. See 45 CFR 164.510(b)(3). ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/71 "2015-01-21T17:48:47Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > I didn’t say I was perfect at it. But the post I was responding to seemed to say it was impossible. Of course it’s not impossible. Most people manage to notice the signs they need to notice and ignore the signs they don’t need to notice, most of the time. But it happens frequently that people don’t. They get so used to ignoring things that aren’t relevant that they also ignore things that are relevant. That’s because often there isn’t a reliable way for your brain to tell the difference between a sign that shows the hours of the store, and a sign that’s just an ad for a service you’re not interested in. I guarantee you skip over hundreds or even thousands of ads in a day without even noticing them. How many signs or blocks of text do you skip over that you would have been interested in? You wouldn’t know, because you skipped over them. I know on websites I regularly go to I become trained to tell the difference between the content and the ads and I literally don’t even see the ads. How often do I accidentally skip over articles that I would have wanted to read? Beats me. For things like street signs we have standardized formats that make streets and traffic instructions easier to pick out of the noise, all signs of that type look the same way and no other signs look that way, so that’s a pretty easy cue. But you don’t even read every traffic sign, that would be impossible. You only read traffic signs when you’re consciously paying attention, like when you’re looking for a particular exit on an unfamiliar freeway, or a particular street. So when people don’t notice the laminated sign posting the library hours among all the other signs among the library it shouldn’t be too surprising. If they had thought, “Maybe there’s a sign around here that says the library hours” and looked for it they would have found it. But if they didn’t stop to look it’s easy to miss, even if it’s plain as day when you’re actually paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/72 "2015-01-21T17:52:30Z")
Well you know those vegans, their diets weaken their eyesight so they have to go mostly by feel ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/73 "2015-01-21T18:01:44Z")
I don’t see stupid people, I see design flaws in signage. For a good book, read “The design of everyday things” or “nudge”. Signage just where it is needed is one of the things IKEA- stores do very well. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/74 "2015-01-21T18:21:46Z")
I took a quick look in Wikipedia and found that two of the lead singers wrote autobiographies. One was titled, “Three Dog Nightmare” and another was “One is the Loneliest Number”. Doesn’t seem like a very happy story. Does it? ## I seem to remember they were racked with problems due to drug abuse. There is a very obvious joke to be made from the name of the band. But I don’t think it would be very funny. ## [Three Dog Night - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Dog_Night) Here is a tiny excerpt from their Wikipedia entry: (fair usage sampling OK?) “… tour was postponed after XX and YY were forced to enter drug rehab and …” “… By December 1985, after a relapse into his drug habit, ZZ was let go, and …” > **[Three Dog Night](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Dog_Night)** > > Three Dog Night is an American rock band formed in 1967, founded by vocalists Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, and Danny Hutton. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael Allsup (guitar), and Floyd Sneed (drums). The band had 21 Billboard Top 40 hits between 1969 and 1975, with three hitting number one. Three Dog Night recorded many songs written by outside songwriters, and they helped to introduce mainstream audiences to writers such as Harry Nilsso... I searched all the FAQs for some “fair usage sampling” guidelines but couldn’t find any. So I hope my post is OK as is. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/75 "2015-01-21T19:59:08Z")
**Charlie Wayne** , what thread were you actually trying to post that in because I don’t think this is it. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/76 "2015-01-21T20:10:43Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > **Charlie Wayne** , what thread were you actually trying to post that in because I don’t think this is it. It makes pefect sense, actually. He’s just noting that there were obvious sigs of drug abuse, but no one read them. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/77 "2015-01-21T20:11:49Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > So when people don’t notice the laminated sign posting the library hours among all the other signs among the library it shouldn’t be too surprising. If they had thought, “Maybe there’s a sign around here that says the library hours” and looked for it they would have found it. But if they didn’t stop to look it’s easy to miss, even if it’s plain as day when you’re actually paying attention. But this doesn’t explain why people do things, like the aforementioned Emperor of the World who, even after the sign was pointed out, still continued to pretend it didn’t exist. Or the people I’ve seen, not a lot but more than one, who walk up to a dark closed store, rattle the door, peer through the glass at the dark showroom for a couple of minutes, rattle the doors again, look back and forth between the big “Closed” sign and the posted hours for a couple of minutes, peer through the glass and rattle the doors again, then wander off muttering something to the effect of “Humph! I wonder why no one is opening the doors.” ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/78 "2015-01-21T20:40:40Z")
I, too, am interested in know what the OP is protesting. Can’t recall anything particularly infuriating on that block, unless one really has a burr in one’s bonnet about mild to mid-grade gentrification. Perhaps the subject of approbation is the vegan restaurant itself, because that place really does suck. Good vegan food does exist, but hot damn, you won’t find it there. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/79 "2015-01-21T20:45:43Z")
> [@Squall Winds](#): > > So, today, I stood at the corner of 6th and Magnolia here in Fort Worthless holding my protest sign, as I regularly do. > > There happens to be a vegan restaurant on the northeast side of the intersection, the Spiral Diner. It is closed on Mondays. In fact, the font size of “Closed Mondays” on the door is second only to that of the logo itself. It’s blatantly obvious. Not when it’s at the bottom of three lines of closely-bunched text, which is how it appears on Google Maps Street View. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340/80 "2015-01-21T20:47:26Z")
> [@Squall Winds](#): > > It truly amazes me how people miss signs like that. Well most people don’t stand around on the corner protesting something or other across the street from a vegan restaurant staring at a Closed Mondays sign all day due to having to work so I can cut them some slack. > [@Kimballkid](#): > > **Charlie Wayne** , what thread were you actually trying to post that in because I don’t think this is it. No, he knows what thread he’s posting in. This is typical of the Charlie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-you-read-the-sign/710340.md?page=5)