A Sign of the Times

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I remember being younger and flipping through a National Lampoon’s book of hilarious signs seen on the road (oddly enough, they were mostly just grammatical mistakes that made signs outside of churches obscenely hilarious). 

What made books like the National Lampoon one so successful was the fact that people were so ignorant as to put up signs like this:

But more and more, these signs are seem like they’re not accidental, which is what made them so funny to begin with.  A prime example of the shift from accidental to active is:

(Yes, it’s still funny, though.)

What I’m wondering, however, is whether or not stupid signs are more indicative of the people that post them, or the people that they’re being posted for?

 Such as this one:

Do we really need to be told that there’s water on the road when it rains?

 Or:

I would have thought that it was common knowledge to not stand on toilets, but that might just be my good upbringing.

Then there are signs that it seems like they’re purposely trying to stir you, like:

While all of the signs above are funny, what it seems to indicate is not: we’re morons.

And it pains me to admit it.  There are three sides to this sign quandary, all of which lead to the targeted demographic looking foolish.

1.    The people who make the signs

Whether it’s the verbiage or the execution, signs that are funny because of craftsmanship matters always have the maker looking like a dolt.  This seems to be especially painful when it’s a religious institution’s sign and it comes off as vulgar or foolish.  The one good thing, in those instances, is that—if there is one—God has a sense of humor.

2.    The people the signs are made for

If you have to be told not to fish in toilets (and yes, there are signs with stick figures acting it out, emblazoned with the red circle-and-slash), then your biggest problem is not that you fish in toilets.

To a more general degree, signs that note how owners have to clean up after their dogs irritate me more than anything else, because this should be common practice and courtesy.  The fact that people have to be told, or better yet threatened with fines and punishment before they’d do something that’s a matter of respect is unfathomable to me.

I’ll say it: if you can’t figure out to pick up after your dog without a sign then you’re a moron.   If you won’t do it?  Then, you’re a string of words that my mother would be ashamed to know I typed.

There.

3.    The people who find the signs funny (and yes, I fall into this group)

It’s very easy to laugh at other’s mistakes, particularly when there’s dirty innuendo.  But if you’re the person who’s looking too deeply (and inappropriately) into something that, at it’s core, is innocuous, then you’re the moron.

Humor that lies at the base is typically reserved for people who either don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, some higher brow humor.  And while I may have seen movies like “Grandma’s Boy” and “Kentucky Fried Movie”—and laughed—it’s not traditionally what I would call my type of “funny.”

The prevalence of these signs to be plastered all over the internet (where they get more views and diggs than other items, such as news stories about Bush lifting the ban on off-shore drilling or the UN pulling out of Darfur) is a sad (but funny) indicator that we’re all, essentially, morons.

 Jackie for AMP3pr.com

Updated by Danielle Oct 30 2017

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