Althouse: Two signs that scared me in South Dakota.

४ ऑगस्ट, २००६

Two signs that scared me in South Dakota.

१६ टिप्पण्या:

chuck b. म्हणाले...: I don't get it. What's so scary about rattlesnakes?; ४/८/०६, १०:४६ AM
Palladian म्हणाले...: I like official signs that include exclamation points. Imagine if all signs included exclamation points. Stop! Yield! Do Not Enter! Dip!

What the rural dating sign needs is an exclamation point.

Rural dating!; ४/८/०६, १०:५१ AM
Meade म्हणाले...: I'm with chuck b. I mean, it's not like rattlesnakes are going to call you up and ask you out or anything. And even if they do, you can always just exclaim to them that you only date urban rattlers.; ४/८/०६, १०:५५ AM
Mark Daniels म्हणाले...: Which sign frightened you more?; ४/८/०६, ११:०१ AM
knox म्हणाले...: That "rural dating" sign made me think of that bit they used to do on The Electric Company where the two people would be facing each other in sihouette and it was like:

him: "sssss"
her: "it"
in unison: "sit!"

I miss that show and I wish they'd at least put it out on dvd so my son could see it.

sorry, digression...; ४/८/०६, ११:२४ AM
Ann Althouse म्हणाले...: him: "sssss"
her: "ex"
in unison: "sex"

(I note the snakelike hissing of the man's "sssss.")

Word verification: omoisms. Used in a sentence: I'm going to go write some omoisms. This are aphorisms with that combine the thought stylings of Emo and Yoko Ono.; ४/८/०६, ११:३७ AM
Ann Althouse म्हणाले...: Which sign frightened me more? The second one. I find that kind of artwork really, really creepy. The snake, on the other hand, is very well drawn.

Also, note the corrosion on the newspaper vending machine. And the symbolism of the coin slot is disturbing. By contrast, the exclamation point is amusing. It's like: we knew the word "beware" would scare you and the word "rattlesnakes," and we knew the picture of the coiled snake was just laying it on thick, so we added the exclamation point as if you weren't yet sufficiently alerted, because we just wanted to make you laugh.

And look at the newspaper that was for sale in that cloudy box.; ४/८/०६, ११:४४ AM
bill म्हणाले...: knoxgirl, here's the 4 disc DVD collection of The Best of The Electric Company. Each episode has an introduction by Rita Moreno.

Good stuff. As they did over 100 a year, I doubt we'll get to see all of them any time soon.; ४/८/०६, १२:०५ PM
Ruth Anne Adams म्हणाले...: Perhaps we could just get two South Dakota herpetologists together and eliminate one of those signs.; ४/८/०६, १२:३२ PM
Tibore म्हणाले...: It'd take more than two herpetologists to get rid of all the snakes in South Dakota.

Oh, wait... ;); ४/८/०६, १२:५६ PM
chuck b. म्हणाले...: (I was being ironic in my rattlesnakes comment. Poisonous snakes are scary for obvious reasons.) What's funny about the rural dating sign is the anachronistic illustration style and banal typeset. You don't see drawings like that in commercial art anymore. And all that shadow? It's supposed to be romantic, but it's sinister. It's a sign for men, isn't it? A sign for women would have more romance than a white field.; ४/८/०६, ४:०४ PM
chuck b. म्हणाले...: I just remembered I went hiking once some place where "Plague Warning!" signs had been posted. That was a scary sign. PLAGUE WARNING! in red, all caps along side illustrations of squirrels, mice, and enlarged fleas. I know plague is easy enough to treat, but who wants a mild case of plague. Not me.; ४/८/०६, ४:२१ PM
knox म्हणाले...: ann said:

him: "sssss"
her: "ex"
in unison: "sex"

lmao!

Bill:
I must have The Best of The Electric Company (and what's more, they're selling it with Schoolhouse Rock! ...very "Reality Bites" of me, I know, but I guess I will carry the taint of GenX with me til my dying day). Thanks for the tip!

chuck said: PLAGUE WARNING!

I'd *freak* if I saw that sign.; ४/८/०६, ५:०९ PM
Synova म्हणाले...: I've haven't seen plague warning signs but I've definately seen posters. My vet has bubonic plague posters up and I believe there was a local headline in the paper lately that there'd been cases reported.

In two weeks will be our local science fiction convention, Bubonicon. If you're famous for something really horrible, embrace it. ;-); ४/८/०६, ५:४४ PM
अनामित म्हणाले...: Life is still quite direct there.; ४/८/०६, ९:१७ PM
CCMCornell म्हणाले...: Reminds me of a story I saw on Yahoo news. I can't seem to find it, but I think it was about the site farmersonly.com.; ४/८/०६, १०:०६ PM