Now trending: signs that command you to do, or not do, something. Also trending: ignoring the signs that command you to do, or not do, something. I found so many examples of this genre that I’m splitting my trove into two parts. I’ll start with my own command: Check these out.
My friend Ellie sent me this beauty, which visually commands you not to bring cigar-smoking, wine-swilling, skateboard-riding dogs into this park. A boomerang may be tucked in there also.
Delivery people have strong arms, right? Good, because this sign commands them to be boxers or construction workers:
I guess if you’re a bicep-deprived UPS, USPS, or FEDEX employee, you’d better bring a phone.
Need a rest? Try this place:
“Enter here” and emerge four months later. No problem! But if you’re driving on the Upper West Side, this sign is definitely a problem:
Not counting the absence of punctuation, the grammar is correct. The meaning? It’s perfect, but “egress”? Really? P.T. Barnum, the 19th century showman and trickster, moved the maximum number of people through his museum each day by posting a sign reading “This way to the egress.” Few equated “egress” with “exit” until they were outside, re-entry prohibited. Which prompts this question: How many New York drivers can define “egress”? And where will they park while they’re googling it? My guess: right in front of the sign.
Admittedly, until I looked it up, I thought egress was a pretentious way of saying exit, and I couldn’t figure out why someone would write that on, say, a door in a movie theater. Now that I know that an emergency egress refers to those doors that on the inside have an interconnected deadbolt and latch to enable a speedy, well, egress, I can understand why most signs say emergency exit. Curiously, though, was your photo taken in a parking garage?
Thanks for enlightening me. I didn’t know about the interconnected deadbolt. I don’t remember what the building contained, but I walk there often, so I’ll check and post another comment.
Never knew that about an “egress”! Ha, and here all along I thought it was a female egret. Just shows ya.
You’re so welcome for the skateboard-riding dog! I hadn’t noticed the boomerang before. That’s one heckuva talented multitasking doggy!
The modern dog. Multitasking just like everyone else!