The Daily Telegraph started correspondence concerning what the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, calls the Royal Society for the Extremely Stupid e.g. a sign on an old lavatory reading 'Pull chain, then let go'. This has now widened to cover signs which are likely to puzzle foreigners, if not everyone.
A universal road sign in Britain reads 'Lay by', often with a helpful indicator of distance: 'Lay by 800 yards'
One reads 'Temporary bend', with the worrying possibility that it might straighten out as the driver negotiates it. Others are the, unpunctuated, 'Slow falling rocks' and the very common 'Use hard shoulder'.
Others show an unintentional, but not always readily avoided, secondary meaning. Examples are 'Explosive search dogs operating in area' and 'This door is alarmed'.
What examples, particularly of road signs, do you have in your region?
"Stop children crossing" spings to mind (poor things, why don't we let them past?)
"Soft verges" will only appeal to the bilingual English/French amongst us. It really creases up a French lady I know, whenever she's in the UK, but DG will probably delete this before anyone else has read it.
Posts: 1152 | Location: Paris | Registered: 04-28-03
One that always amuses me is "Slow Children Ahead". Do they have limited mobility, or are they just plain stupid? Do the signs follow the children if they change residence?
Another road sign I like is one that simply says "Bump". Is that a warning or an instruction?
'Heavy plant crossing' is one that's just come to mind.
Strangely, Colin, I've never read 'verges' in 'soft verges' as in French but if your first language is French the word might stand out, as it were.
A sign in lavatories on trains here in the 1950s read 'Gentlemen raise the seat', which intrigued Jonathan Miller. Is that a definition of a gentleman, an order or some form of formal toast ( e.g."Gentlemen, raise the seat !" with the gentlemen then raising their seats )
