More On Signs

I told you all that I would stop talking about signs but the saga continues.  I keep seeing signs that make it a requirement that I comment on them.  Not all of the signs now are road signs although they represent most of the ones I talk about.

One of the signs that I think is worth mentioning is one that says “Caution…Water On Road During Rain”.  Gosh that is a revelation.  I am sure that the sign is TRUE but is it necessary.

Then there are the signs of omission.  I have made comments and actually apologized for comments about “watching children playing”…innocent enough but something like that could be misinterpreted.  I am currently staying with my youngest daughter in a town just outside Philadelphia.  I saw a sign near my daughter’s house that said  “Drive Care Philly”  Speed 25 Limit  “Watch Children”.  Care Philly is clearly a “play on words” which I liked.    Taken literally this sign suggests that you watch children.  In my opinion this should have said “Watch For Children”.  This is a much more appropriate way of saying what needs to be said.  We don’t want to invite the wrong element to take this sign as an invitation to “watch” children.  This is one of those cases that I might be overthinking the sign too much.

A few more road signs worth mentioning include:  “Slow… Deaf Child”  “Caution…Wheel Chair Traffic Ahead”, “Slow…Autistic Child At Play” and finally…”Brake Retarders Prohibited”  Then there was a followup sign that said “Brake Retarders Prohibited” End Zone.   First of all, to me, anytime you need a definition for a road sign the sign is not doing its job.  I have never heard of Brake Retarders.  This sign prohibits their use.  When I saw the sign I thought…tell me what a Brake Retarder is then I will know that I can’t use it in that particular zone.  Any sign that requires finding the definition is not a good road sign.

Each morning in Philadelphia I take a walk.  It happens that I walk to an old football field that has a track.  I walk around the track a number of times each day.  Yesterday I noticed that there are a set of bathrooms near the track.  I needed to use the mens room so I entered the bathroom.  I didn’t expect to experience an especially clean bathroom and my expectations were realized.  The point I want to make is that at some point they had painted a sign on the wall above the sinks that said “Do Not Drink From Sinks”  then under those words was a graphic of a drink and a circle with a line through it.  Honestly the idea of drinking from one of those sinks was not something that I would have ever thought to do.  I guess it could happen if I had been deprived of water for some extended period of time and would need water to survive.  Frankly I don’t think that anyone should have even suggested that one might consume water from one of those sinks.  Oh well…that’s just me.

Keep watching for interesting signs.  Share the wild ones with me.  I will continue to be vigilant on your behalf.  Overthinking for you is part of my job.