"You know those Slippery When Wet roadsigns with the car and the squiggles and the WHEN WET writing underneath?" "Yes." "When I was a kid, I thought the sign was a suggestion, not a warning." "What?" "I thought it was telling you, when it is slippery, drive your car from side to side in a squiggly fashion." "So you thought you were meant to put the car on two wheels and slide around?!" "Yeah. Everytime it rained I always wondered why Mum or Dad never did it." "Because our cars were too shithouse to have the Slippery When Wet feature."
heh, the slippery when wet sign. makes me think of another derivitive. like when you go parking, things can get a little slippery.
forgive me for thinking this.
When I was in the states when I was about 8 I wondered why there were signs in different languages… ped xing? It sounds like a province in China.
I seriously used to think that too!!
point hut xing!
anonymous person! you are starting to shit me!
I want to go to Point hut Xing. Shame it’s probably about -10 in there.
I always thought the merging traffic sign said Merving Teriffic. This was when I was learning to read, I swear.
hehe! I like the idea of cars so crap they can’t even skid.
When I was a child, I was terribly interested with the Highway Code (a publication of Her Majesty’s Sationary Office). It was all the pictures of road signs, and what they meant, that fascinated me.
But one day (years later), when I was driving, I turned off a roundabout, onto the sliproad onto a dual carriage way. But I suddenly noticed these two, big signs with red crosses on a blue background. ‘Shit!’ I thought, ‘I’m not s’posed to go down here!’ So I stopped. Then I remembered, the signs meant no stopping!
I also got distracted by a sign at a junction that said, “Right turn? Take care!” Thinking about the potential for that sign to distract drivers, I turned right, and nearly got hit by two cars coming the other way!
(As for the mystery commenter, I hope it’s just supposed to be a bit of fun. But now that you’ve said it’s beginning to shit you, I’d reckon any more anonymous commenting would constitute harassment (!). But if, as I speculate, it’s just for fun, with no harm or harassment intended, then the mystery commenter will, of course, cease anonymous commenting now, and satisfy all our curiousities by revealing their identity. (Oh, go on, mystery commenter! Please unmask yourself
))
Re: ped xing.
My first trip to States last year had me confused about that too, unfortunately I’ve no excuse as I was 27 at the time.. Oh dear..
Man shauna, you are getting some serious novels in the comments lately.
It’s Wnpcowrimo.
Argh! Nanowrimo! Don’t make me remember that torturous month spent writing a terrible novel about a guy talking about the fork. Meh!
Yeah, road signs make me giggle. They always have. And though I was a strange child, I never once thought about that slippery when wet sign. Though when I saw those Steep Grade signs with a 16-wheeler driving down a sharp incline, I did wonder how a semi managed to make it onto a doorstop.
I always used to wonder how the car managed to cross it’s skid marks over like that – I could never work it out!
Okay, this is where you call in the Sanity Police, the gendarmes of childhood madness, the enforcers of juvenile escape. Basically, I had this tendency to create fictitious maps at an early age. What I used to do was lay out a whole town on an 8 1/2 x 11 paper. Bird’s eye Thomas Bros. view with clover leaves, winding roads and of course the rectilinear streets of downtown. Then I’d get a ream of paper and draw my car’s journey from the perspective of the windshield of this town. I’d label each sheet sequentially and then follow the car’s journey on the map. These pictures were pretty straightforward and crude. I was never much of a drawer, but all of this stuff was in my head and the minimalist stuff that I could reproduce was filled in by what I saw within my noggin.
But where it got pretty disturbing was in the signs I devised. Like any imaginative person, I too was fascinated by the SLIPPERY WHEN WET sign. But here in California, the sign had two absolutely identical curlicues that trailed from the car. This led me to believe that somehow the car, should it slip, would skid in precisely the pattern dictated the sign. After all, since some government official had put the sign up, my five year old head is thinking that they know the precise trajectory of the car’s skid, should the road ever become wet and, thus, slippery.
In mulling this dilemma over, I eventually came to the conclusion that the government simply wasn’t doing its job properly. Because it didn’t account for every potential disaster. But in the towns that I created on paper, I considered nearly every warning, while taking into account that the visual information on the signs that needed to be conveyed had to follow the certain house style set by the SLIPPERY WHEN WET sign.
So what you had for a pothole in the road was a sign very much like the “SLIPPERY WHEN WET” sign, complete with the car jumping into the air, labelled “BUMPY WHEN HOLED.” I even created signs that predicted the car mowing down a random pedestrian trying to cross the street. If I recall, it was something like “BLOODY WHEN CROSSED.”
I was a terrible little boy.
I notice on one’s stats that people are coming here looking for ’2L bottle stretch ass’.
Ahem.
I always thought the slippery car turned itself inside out in order to make the crossover pattern.. I always waited for the day mine would…
still waiting
I was puzzled by the crossing skid marks, too. But I forgot I was puzzled, until reading Sarz’s comment. (By the way, is it acceptable to put just ‘Sarz”? Or does the ‘z’ not count the same way an ‘s’ does?)
Ed, your childhood signs are most amusing! “BUMPY WHEN HOLED” particularly made me laugh.
Perhaps the significance of the crossing over skid marks is that it shows the second half of the car spinning all the way round through 360 degrees?
Or it’s saying, ‘If you don’t drive carefully, then you’ll end up skidding in ways you just never expect!’
hmmm, come to think of it, the crossing skid marks do rather invoke a feeling of out-of-controlness.
I don’t know if you need to say Sarz’s or just Sarz’… do whatever feels good I say!
i plan on doing my own nanowrimo in december or january. just because i’m an individual and don’t like the idea of trying to write a novel during exams.
ed, you are both funny and deeply ill.
I agree with Rach.
When I was growing up in Holland there was one road sign that used to fascinate me that said “Pass op, Dremples”
I always thought Dremples sounded like a disease or something. For the longest time whenever my siblings or I would make a mistake or fart or anything we would say “sorry, I have Dremples”
In reading everyone’s comments I’m struck by the thought that life was such a wide-open mystery when we were kids. When did we loose the belief that cars could make any lines they chose when wiping out, or that cities could make up road signs as they please?
So, like we can control your bowel movements just by leaving anonymous comments?
Posting anonymously is rude, if not actively hostile, especially after the hostess has asked you not to.
But Guess Who does have a point. Some famous guy, I forget who, developed angina, which is chest pain due to poor blood flow and made worse by exercise, stress or strong emotions like anger. It can be fatal. He said, “My life is in the hands of any rascal who chooses to annoy me.”
The point is: don’t let the rascals control your emotions or your excretory functions. Do what the sadist does to the masochist: nothing. And laugh while you’re doing it.
If you want to control my bowl movements you have to pull my finger.
and Steve’s right, IT IS rude.
I am so sorry, I never meant to be rude.
I didn’t even realise I was being rude, I just didn’t think it made that much of a difference if I left my name or not, as you still wouldn’t know who I was.
Please, accept my most sincere apologies for upsetting you.
Now can someone please tell me why posting anonymously is rude? Why is it any ruder than using a nickname? Is it also rude not to leave an email address or web site? What if you don’t have either or prefer that the general public is unaware of these?
And for all those others who left anonymous messages, possibly trying to pose as me, I’m sure Shauny has your id.
In closing, Shauny, I really am sorry if I offended you in anyway, I never meant any harm.
are you the person who’s been posting anonymously for ages???
i was just curious, that’s all… no worries
Hello Katrina!
You’re right about how giving an identity (or pseudoidentity) doesn’t necessarily tell others who you really are. And, indeed, there are those who do use nicknames.
It’s an interesting issue. As you ask, what really is the difference between using a pseudonym, and just remaining completely anonymous?
Well, why would someone use a pseudonym? To remain anonymous, surely! But then, why use a pseudonym at all? Same reason for having real names, really. (There was an episode of Sesame Street where Big Bird thought it would be much easier if everyone was called Mr Hooper, ’cause then he wouldn’t have to remember all those different names.) It’s just a matter of keeping track of who said what, and that kind of thing.
But what about making it explicit that the identity is being kept secret? And repeatedly making a point of it? Why would someone do that? (Not that you did. As you’ve said, others were jumping on your unwitting bandwagon (or something like that).) Would it be just to remain anonymous? But they needn’t say anything about remaining anonymous! So, it would have to be that there is not only a reason for remaining anonymous, but also a reason for making a repeated point of it (perhaps the same reason for both). But what could that reason be?
That’s when things like stalking/harassment start coming to mind. It feels like such commenters are saying, ‘I know something of who you are, but you don’t know anything of who I am.’ And it’s quite easy for scary questions to come to mind, like, ‘Does the mysterious commenter live in the same village/town/city as me? Do they know who I am in real life? Do they follow me around in person without me knowing?’ (For the most part, though, such people are hundreds or thousands of miles away, and pose no real danger. But still, the fear can be real.)
Perhaps another reason for giving some sort of idenity, even if it’s a nickname, is to indicate that no such malice is intended.
(Of course, it’s always possible for a malicious individual to use a friendly sounding pseudonym, and that sort of thing. But whole dissertations could be written on such issues!)
Personally, I don’t find just plain, ordinary anonymity to be rude, as such, in itself, though.
Anyway, that’s my take on the issue.
The rudeness lies not in posting anonymously, but in persisting in doing so after being asked to stop by our hostess. Even tho this blog is out in the public domain, it’s there only because Shauny makes the effort to put it there, so I think we oughtta honor her requests. Or go elsewhere.
settle down, boys! i am not angry about the anonymous comments. i was just secretly hoping i had an anonymous secret admirer who was going to one day secretly confess their secret undying love for me… dream on, miss shauny!
miss shauny is blogging for all the wrong reasons.
oh shauny, i am so sorry to have disappointed you.
I was your secret admirer though, I was being secret and I greatly admire you for your great wit and excellent story-telling qualities.
However, I am sure you were hoping I was a secret admirer of the opposite gender, and while I can not be that, I am certain that you have at least a dozen of them out there somewhere!!
up until about two weeks ago i thought ‘the queen mum’ was an affectionate term for the queen. so imaging my surprise when i discovered that the queen was not, as i had thought, dead but indeed celebrating her birthday. boy did i feel stupid when i actually timidly asked my girlfriend where i had gone wrong.
It may only have been in England but “Heavy Plant Crossing” signs must rank as number one on the mirth making scale for kids in cars….
How was we to know it meant heavy machinery? I had the image of some huge walking venus flytrap (don’t ask why a flytrap….that confuses me still)
The question is: what plant did your imagination come up with and what mode of transport did it employ to cross the road???
Miss S: What are the “right” reasons to blog?
Miss Shauny, I am settled down
Not Anonymous Katrina had asked why anonymous posting could be considered rude. So, I thought I’d offer some thoughts on such matters (perhaps cheekily, as this is your blog, not mine). That’s all
Sorry if it came across as ‘having a go’!
As for heavy plants, aren’t those signs warning about obese triffids?
I love how it’s tomorrow over there! All this talk of blog-commenting ettiquette has me wondering if I’m a dick. There’s a Xanga blog by someone who really annoys me with pontifical pronouncements against things I hold dear and sometimes I post comments in opposition. The editor of the site has requested that I refrain but I persist. Is that so wrong? The blog represents itself as a combination of a personal journal and a center for world activism. And yes I know that I’m a dork for using Xanga at all.
and how does the car make two marks come from one tire? if i had to look at that every day i’d be crazy.
me and girl friend of mine used to burst into laughter every time went into the Myer Center car park and the sign SLIPPERY WHEN WET was sitting there waiting.
put your mind in the gutter then think it about it with visuals. it’s a funny thought.
I know it’s a bit late, but I wanted to mention the Slow Children at Play sign you see sometimes here in the US. My cousins and I first thought they were for warning drivers of the presence of mentally challenge children and thought that somewhat unkind to the children.