# "The End Of The World Is Nigh" sandwich boards. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264 "2009-02-24T20:31:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/21 "2009-03-13T01:17:07Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Or a guy wearing a sandwich board with a guy wearing a barrel painted on it, and a dog running past with the string of sausages. The guy in the barrel could be yelling “Repent!” at the dog. And if the dog doesn’t repent, a piano will fall from a high building and land on him. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/22 "2009-03-13T01:26:27Z")
It now sounds kind of fun to make a sandwich board and go stand on a corner for a while. You know, just 'cos. We don’t really have any pedestrian traffic, though, so I figure most people would just ignore me and think I’m advertising a business or something. Man, if we could have a Doper meet where we all show up with signs that say strange things… ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/23 "2009-03-13T15:11:33Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Why doesn’t anyone ever see a guy wearing a sandwich board depicting a dog running away with a string of sausages? I don’t know, but it wold be a cool thing to paint on a barrel that one would wear because they were too poor to afford normal clothes. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/24 "2009-03-13T15:27:25Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > And if the dog doesn’t repent, a piano will fall from a high building and land on him. And the dog can’t get away because it slipped on a banana peel. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/25 "2009-03-13T18:07:35Z")
So, was awareness of “The end of the world is nigh” triggered by Watchmen? I haven’t seen any hand held signs recently. We have a guy with a truck in the area, though. It had a big board with changing slogans on how society is offending God attached to the tailgate. There are several flags to draw attention as it moves along. Anti-homosexuality is a recurring theme, but there are other ways that we are letting Him down. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/26 "2009-03-13T20:34:25Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > So, was awareness of “The end of the world is nigh” triggered by Watchmen? Nope. I was reminded of it by rewatching some of The Stand tv movie. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/27 "2009-03-13T20:47:47Z")
Not a sandwich board, but [this van](http://www.flickr.com/photos/pet_r/3085582764/) is in Lahaina all the time. The difference is that he’s saying the end of the world **isn’t** nigh. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/28 "2009-03-13T20:56:29Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > Plenty of nutcases with signs around here (New York), but few actual sandwich boards. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen one. Around October, I did see a woman on the subway wearing a sign about Obama being the antichrist and so forth. > [@](#): > > The signs often go into minute detail, in very small print, about the conspiracy or impending end-times event or whatever it is the sign-bearer feels the need to warn his fellow New Yorkers of. Yes, there was a lot of that. She wasn’t wearing a true sandwich board, but she had tied or taped two piece of oaktag together, front and back, and filled them both with her screed. ---
**Author:** ![DagNation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@DagNation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DagNation)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/29 "2009-03-14T00:05:26Z")
This thread has given me ideas for a burningman costume - it is less than 6 months away and I gotta get started getting ready! Also, there use to be a guy who would shuffle around the financial district in SF CA carrying a sign ranting about the “12 galaxies” or something…his hand made signs were getting pretty worn, so someone who worked in a corporate promotions department made him nice professionally printed signs, and he used them, so I guess it was an accurate copy. This guy was so well known that someone dressed as him at Halloween one year. Sometimes I really miss the SF crazies… ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/30 "2009-03-14T00:09:03Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > It now sounds kind of fun to make a sandwich board and go stand on a corner for a while. You know, just 'cos. We don’t really have any pedestrian traffic, though, so I figure most people would just ignore me and think I’m advertising a business or something. > > Man, if we could have a Doper meet where we all show up with signs that say strange things… I’d like to make one that says “e^i(pi)+1=0” ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/31 "2009-03-14T00:57:09Z")
> [@DagNation](#): > > This thread has given me ideas for a burningman costume - it is less than 6 months away and I gotta get started getting ready! > > **Also, there use to be a guy who would shuffle around the financial district in SF CA carrying a sign ranting about the “12 galaxies” or something** …his hand made signs were getting pretty worn, so someone who worked in a corporate promotions department made him nice professionally printed signs, and he used them, so I guess it was an accurate copy. This guy was so well known that someone dressed as him at Halloween one year. > > Sometimes I really miss the SF crazies… Some of his sayings have been included as easter eggs in the webcomic, **Narbonic.** The comic has concluded, unfortunately. However they’re going through the archives and adding comments. I think the galaxies were near the beginning of the archive. Relatively. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/32 "2009-03-14T01:36:04Z")
The phrase ‘end of the world’ refers to the apocalypse predicted in Revelations. The term used there is ‘apokalupsis eschaton’ which literally means “revelation at the end of the æon, or age”, I think where Jesus’s second coming is realized and he reigns for 1000 years on Earth. So I’m guessing the boards are usually religious, referring to the Christian ‘end of the world’ predicted in Revelation, which is always the sort of vein I took them in anyway. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/33 "2009-03-14T01:37:58Z")
In fact thinking about it, isn’t the full stereotypical sandwich board phrase, ‘The end of the world is nigh, repent and believe the good news’? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264/34 "2009-03-14T01:53:48Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > The signs often go into minute detail, in very small print, about the conspiracy or impending end-times event or whatever it is the sign-bearer feels the need to warn his fellow New Yorkers of. I dont’ bother to read them. Occasionally I’ve had an inkling to read the sign, just to see what it says. But I’ve been put off by the certainty that doing so will show interest which will result in a conversation I will need to back slowly away from while nodding and smiling weakly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-sandwich-boards/487264.md?page=1)