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THE SALE LASTEZ TILL MARCH 6
My favorite road signs and display signs are the ones that grow larger in memory as time passes.
Cruising past a variety store/thrift store/remainder store I notice a carefully hand-lettered-hand-colored poster that prominently states, EARS PIERCED WHILE YOU WAIT.
It’s not until a few beats later that the message snaps back at me. EARS PIERCED WHILE YOU WAIT.
What I enjoy most about signs like this is that they actually communicate, with a high degree of accuracy, what they are attempting to get across to passersby, despite their humorous blend of common sense and mixed metaphor.
Even though I write and edit as part of a vocational calling, I am careful NOT to correct every grammatical or syntactic misuse I see. Especially when the communication is deliberate and the message immediately understandable. I almost admire the creative and original way the author has laid out this cardboard placard idea.
Another handmade sign at another independent roadside sale: THE SALE LASTEZ TILL MARCH 6.
This statement precisely reflects, economically and simply, exactly the way the proprietor talks and, again, I can’t find fault with its clarity. THE SALE LASTEZ TILL MARCH 6 says it all. No proofing red marks allowed.
As a kid, I used to ponder over the meaning of metallic intersection signs that warned NO U TURN. It took me years to decide what this message meant. Was it a shorthand way of saying, “Don’t you turn here,” or “There is no way for you to turn here,” or was it something that only grownups understood, and was it any of my business anyhow? NO U TURN.
For weeks now, just a block from my home, I pass a large orange sign that has been damaged to read, ME WORKING. The N has been obliterated and the message altered. I keep meaning to have Liz take a picture of me next to the sign, holding a shovel and grinning idiotically. But I never get around to it. One day, there is actually a hardhatted city employee digging up part of the street near the sign. I’d love to see all hard workers sporting badges that say ME WORKING. Or, during breaks, ME NOT WORKING.
My brain does rattle on, doesn’t it?
I guess just jotting all this down for your entertainment means that ME BE WORKING.
I hope your laughter and goodwill lastez while you wait and that you make no dangerous U turns, at least on my watch
© Jim Reed 2017 A.D.
http://www.jimreedbooks.com/podcast