Signs of the times

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:24 am

Wistfully going through some old holiday photos (the way you do), it struck me that I seem to have a penchant for taking photos of quirky, unusual and/or amusing signs, and I thought they might warrant a topic. Or maybe not; probably this'll die an even speedier death than the topic about roller coasters that I tried to start.

Anyway, if you've spotted a sign somewhere that's tickled your fancy, and you've taken a photo, post it here citing when and where you saw it. (Photos that you've merely found on the interweb - even if they're of droll signs - don't belong here; post them in the Photo Dump instead.)

I'll kick off with this one, taken at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, 1994.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:26 am

Cool thread. I'll be contributing with a couple as soon as I can get through holiday pics.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:29 am

Boston, Massachusetts, 1998:

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:32 am

Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1998:

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:36 am

Hot Creek, Sierra Nevada mountains, California, 1994. This is mainly the one that prompted me to start this thread. Notice the people in the water happily ignoring the warning. (Three minutes after the photo was taken, I was among them.)

Adam Gillard · Post by **Adam Gillard** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:37 am

Israel 2005 (sorry for the blurriness, taken on board a coach)

Edit: Just by way of explanation, "Coffee Anan" in Hebrew translates as "Coffee in the clouds". So it's a rather clever pun.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:44 am

These are great. I don't go anywhere so I can't contribute. But they are great.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:49 am

Cairns, Australia, 2000.

Somewhat more thought-provoking to find on the back of your hotel room door than the usual fire drill notice; I particularly like the bit about "If the building starts to break up, protect yourself with mattresses and blankets".

(The rather obvious patching-up job was my clumsy attempt, when I was less experienced with Photoshop than I am now, to clarify some text rendered illegible by the reflection of the flash.)

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:50 am

Brisbane, Australia, 2000.

Jennifer Steadman · Post by **Jennifer Steadman** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:54 am

Who knew Cornwall was so risqué?

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:57 am

Jon O'Neill wrote:I don't go anywhere so I can't contribute.

Although foreigners are of course innately funny, you can find amusing signs a lot closer to home - indeed I spotted this one in my home town:

Llandrindod Wells, Wales, 2002

Karen Pearson · Post by **Karen Pearson** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:03 am

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

Who knew Cornwall was so risqué?

Nice that it's next to the sign for slug pellets!

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:31 am

Karen Pearson wrote:Nice that it's next to the sign for slug pellets!

Might be buttplug and er.... Lil-lets.

Brian Moore · Post by **Brian Moore** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 11:22 am

Queuing in a coach to get on the ferry to go to Bruges, 2010

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 11:35 am

My favourite 'lets laugh at johnny foreigner' photo, was a sign at a laundrymatt in Singapore saying 'Dont kill your wife, let us do it' . Can't believe that missing '.

Mark Deeks · Post by **Mark Deeks** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:04 pm

Spanish town whose name I forgot, late 2008:

Point taken.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:06 pm

Shop entirely dedicated to constipation, in Nice, France (2007):

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:09 pm

Near Gianno's Campanile in Florence, Italy (2007):

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:10 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:Shop entirely dedicated to constipation, in Nice, France (2007):

Wonder if they're struggling these days.

You know, with the state of the economy and that.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:11 pm

Saw tons of cool graffiti around Europe on trip in 2007, but it's not really the same thing as signs even though the messages are interesting, so I've just plumped for this favourite of mine, seen in Venice:

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:12 pm

Mark Deeks wrote:Spanish town whose name I forgot

Um, Nerja by any chance?

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:13 pm

In Munich, you can park your dog:

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:17 pm

Another thing I found interesting around Europe was the use of English obscenities to advertise/name 'hip' events.
I saw a few posters for music events around Italy with "fuck" or "shit" in the title, and here is a poster from Berlin:

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:18 pm

Marc Meakin wrote:My favourite 'lets laugh at johnny foreigner' photo, was a sign at a laundrymatt in Singapore saying 'Dont kill your wife, let us do it' . Can't believe that missing '.

Yeah, see, the idea of specifying that you post your own photos saying when and where you took them was precisely to discourage people from repeating lame old clichéd shit off the internet.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:21 pm

Seen on a ferry between Hamburg and Copenhagen, a potentially deadly but cool-sounding room filled with CO2 and rum:

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:27 pm

Quite funny seeing someone trying desperately to imitate me in Amsterdam:

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:29 pm

A twist on the "English obscenities" thing, seen on a national theatre poster in Bruges:

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:46 pm

Word stemming in Prague, 2011:

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:46 pm

Very specific customer eligibility at Prague airport, 2011:

Mark Deeks · Post by **Mark Deeks** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:47 pm

On a similar theme, this was in Bishop Stortford Tesco's male toilets, a place I like to hang out in of an evening.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:53 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Marc Meakin wrote:My favourite 'lets laugh at johnny foreigner' photo, was a sign at a laundrymatt in Singapore saying 'Dont kill your wife, let us do it' . Can't believe that missing '.
Yeah, see, the idea of specifying that you post your own photos saying when and where you took them was precisely to discourage people from repeating lame old clichéd shit off the internet.

I've been to Singapore , I'll have you know...I was merely making a comment about this form of of racism.
And if you only think I'm whinging because I'm jealous as I cannot start new topics, you'd be right .

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:58 pm

Mark Deeks wrote:On a similar theme, this was in Bishop Stortford Tesco's male toilets, a place I like to hang out in of an evening.

nearly as good as the doctored FLAME RETARDANT sign I saw recently in a lift........no photo though.

Oliver Garner · Post by **Oliver Garner** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 2:00 pm

More of a logo than a sign and it has to be looked at from the right angle.

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:25 pm

I think you'd have to be a good swimmer to follow this sign in Kew Gardens:

2 signs from Dr Who Experience that probably don't meet the criteria of the thread, but what the heck:

First one is very blurry as very dark when I took the pic, but it's of an angel. The second is self explanatory:

Liam Tiernan · Post by **Liam Tiernan** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:57 pm

Sorry, no picture, but I remember seeing this sign on the road to Limerick: "Inane road improvement scheme. This project has been funded by the Irish Government and by the European Regional Development Fund."

Jennifer Steadman · Post by **Jennifer Steadman** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 4:39 pm

A random bench we saw in China. No idea what it's on about, but it has the word 'condom' in it, and that makes it funny.

Chris Davies · Post by **Chris Davies** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:19 pm

An unusual speed limit in Connah's Quay, North Wales.

Jennifer Steadman · Post by **Jennifer Steadman** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:47 pm

Jon Corby wrote:
Karen Pearson wrote:Nice that it's next to the sign for slug pellets!
Might be buttplug and er.... Lil-lets.

With regards to butt-plugs, they do actually have an 18+ section in that shop. Not sure why, because it's not exactly Orgy Central there... unless I was hanging out in the wrong places.

JimBentley · Post by **JimBentley** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:02 pm

Couple of puerile ones my friend Oli sent me from a trip around Europe in 2005 or 2006:

The Wikipedia page for Fucking, Austria is quite funny, but I'm not sure it's all true.

Lesley Hines · Post by **Lesley Hines** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:36 pm

From Disneyland Paris
"Hold hands and no dancing"

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 7:10 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:Seen on a ferry between Hamburg and Copenhagen, a potentially deadly but cool-sounding room filled with CO2 and rum:

I wonder if I was the only person who thought "someone's replaced NUND with 2".

Graeme Cole · Post by **Graeme Cole** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 7:27 pm

When on holiday in Scotland last year, I noticed a lot of their signs involve people falling off of things, and looking particularly pleased to have done so. Here are some from a path around a gorge:

Do not attempt the YMCA dance on the cliff path.

Do not attempt to race boulders down the cliff.

Also this one:

Do not attempt to wear the recycling bank as a hat.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:57 pm

Graeme Cole wrote:
Do not attempt to race boulders down the cliff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzMYYk9O ... ure=relmfu