# Did the sign really say THAT? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461 "2007-06-18T14:41:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/21 "2007-06-18T18:45:00Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Oh thank Og! For a while there I thought that someone had written a ballet about Phred Phelps. [/QUOTE] Me, I was trying to figure out if it was Charlie Manson or Aimee Semple McPherson. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/22 "2007-06-18T19:01:45Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Me, I was trying to figure out if it was Charlie Manson or Aimee Semple McPherson. [/QUOTE] And to think, in another thread ,somebody asked why we like the SDMB! ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/23 "2007-06-18T19:45:16Z")
I recently passed a highway sign that said “Right Lane Exists”. How Zen, I thought. Turns out it was “Right Lane Exits”. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/24 "2007-06-18T20:37:58Z")
I was at the drugstore, and glanced at a rack full of the newest faux health fad stuff. Printed in perky pink electric letters on a purple background was the name of the product: “Fatality!”, which I didn’t think was going to sell well. A second look told me its actual name was “Vitality!” ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/25 "2007-06-18T20:50:21Z")
[QUOTE=Hunter Hawk] …and I just read the second sentence as ''You learn not to open your mouth until a _redneck_ verifies what you thought was funny." [/QUOTE] I swa that too. And in a CS thread I thought it said “sexploit Farah Fawcett” but perhaps that was more understandable. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/26 "2007-06-18T20:54:43Z")
I recently saw a van owned by a removals company. It had lots of information about the firm painted on the back, including “In business for 40 years” and “Fully Insured” plus what I first read as Uninformed Staff" . This latter statement was actually “Uniformed Staff” . :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/27 "2007-06-18T21:08:36Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] We have an ASS MANAGEMENT wing in one of our buildings. Yes, it really does say that as some intern keeps removing the ET from ASSET. [/QUOTE] Now if you could only convince that intern to remove AGEMENT. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/28 "2007-06-18T21:11:39Z")
These are cases of mischievous tampering (so they don’t count, but I’m going to mention them anyway). The floor-standing sign inside the door of a Pizza Hut restaurant had been very convincingly altered from ‘please wait here to be seated’ to ‘please wait here to be nauseated’ On an old train, back when it was British Rail, a sign near one of the door seats originally said “please give up this seat if an elderly or disabled person needs it”, but many of the letters had been obliterated, leaving it saying “please eat an elderly or disabled person” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/29 "2007-06-18T21:14:33Z")
For the longest time, while watching courtroom TV shows, I was bewildered by judges’ first names were always abbreviated on their name plates. I was also curious as to why they all had the first name Honey. ---
**Author:** ![Shryn\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Shryn\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shryn_King)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/30 "2007-06-18T21:14:41Z")
I know the OP was talking about signs; but, I just misread a thread title. [Share your favourite flash games!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425012) Did anyone besides me read [Share your favourite flesh games!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425012) I thought it might have been worth reading! ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/31 "2007-06-18T21:31:01Z")
I used to drive by a sign for a video store “Quick Fucks” Except really it was named Quick _Flicks_. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/32 "2007-06-18T21:32:12Z")
Okay, guess what I thought [this logo](http://www.mcfarling.com/) (the one on the top left-hand corner of the page) said when I first saw it on one of the company’s trucks. Add me to the group of readers who wondered why a redneck had to verify the humor of anything that tickled **Harmonious Discord** ’s fancy. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/33 "2007-06-18T21:47:25Z")
In college, I frequently passed by a sign in my friend’s apartment complex that commanded me to “Reefer a Friend.” Is that allowed?! Apparently it is, as long as you are just “referring a friend”. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/34 "2007-06-18T21:49:39Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] These are cases of mischievous tampering (so they don’t count, but I’m going to mention them anyway). [/QUOTE] I have another example of funnily tampered-with signs. At the University of Ottawa’s library, every desk has a sign saying “It is forbidden to eat or drink in the library” (plus the equivalent in French) posted on it. I saw one that had been changed to “It is forbidden to read or think in the library”. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/35 "2007-06-18T21:50:01Z")
There is a trucking company called Fuchs Trucking that has it emblazoned on the semis. I know what it is, but I always read Fucks Trucking. A slight variation to misreading a sign follows. As for the Slow Children sign, I think we all go “Well, make them go faster.” ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/36 "2007-06-18T21:53:44Z")
I used to drive past a sign (that was planted right in front of the local community college, by the by) that I always thought said “Vechicle Testing Center” with an arrow pointing in the correct direction. Even though I always saw it that way, I assumed it was simply my dyslexia popping in to say hello everytime and disregarded it until I pointed to it one day with my (then-bf, now-)husband in the car, giggled and said “vechicle testing center” and he said “oh my god, I would never have noticed that if you hadn’t pointed it out!” Turns out the sign **really did say that**! Of course, I mentioned it in the one and only “letter to the editor” I wrote – which was an attack on the public schools in this town. The sign was removed and replaced with a correctly spelled one within days of my letter. Kind of funny. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/37 "2007-06-18T22:03:43Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] A slight variation to misreading a sign follows. As for the Slow Children sign, I think we all go “Well, make them go faster.” [/QUOTE] Og forgive me, every time I see that sign I think “The smart ones know not to play in the street.” ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/38 "2007-06-18T22:04:35Z")
A restaurant opened up near my office, and I think they’re not really saying what they had in mind… **There’s always a line at Joe’s!** Thanks for warning me. I’m in a bit of a hurry, so I’ll eat somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/39 "2007-06-18T22:04:53Z")
I was at a Cleveland Indians baseball game recently and read on the message board news about an upcoming promotion, which I thought said, “Dog Collar Night.” I thought that was kind of kinky for the Indians until my companion point out that it actually said, “Dollar Dog Night”, ie, one would be able to purchase a hot dog for a single dollar. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461/40 "2007-06-18T22:08:13Z")
[QUOTE=Hunter Hawk] …and I just read the second sentence as ''You learn not to open your mouth until a _redneck_ verifies what you thought was funny." [/QUOTE] I’ll fourth this observation. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-sign-really-say-that/408461.md?page=3)