Sunday, May 17, 2009

Here's Your Sign



In Boston, signage is spotty at best. I guess the powers that be figure if you don't know where you are, you aren't supposed to be there. Bermuda was well marked, but I confess this particular sign had me scratching my head. It says, "KEEP HATCHED AREA CLEAR." And they feel strongly enough about it to include an large exclamation point!

But what does it mean?



Here's a shot that shows the location a bit more. It was in a residential area near the Crystal Cave. I asked a few people while I was in Bermuda, but no one seemed to know what it meant. If anyone has the slightest clue what "KEEP HATCHED AREA CLEAR" means, please enlighten me!

Here's another sign that I found funny.
At first blush, it looks as if they are descriminating against "Swizzles," warning them against parking there on pain of being "clamped." (Ouch!) Made me wonder for a moment if Swizzles was a minority political party or an unpopular high school mascot.

Actually, Swizzles was the supper club across the street from this ice cream parlor's parking lot.

I've "collected" funny signs since we lived in North Carolina. The all-time peg-out the weird-o-meter sign from there was "CHICKEN IN REAR." It was meant as an invitation to come around to the back of a gas station where some really good fried chicken was for sale, but I never could get over the disturbing image this sign conjured.

What's the funniest/most puzzling sign you've ever seen?

PS. If you'd like to see more pics from my Bermuda trip, please visit www.myspace.com/emilybryanromance

9 comments:

Heather D said...

Hi Emily,
I googled "Keep Hatch Area Clear". it came back with some really confusing stuff, but what I read I believe that your sign is refering to the area of the stairs. You said that it was in a residential area, so maybe the owners are saying No Parking in front of the stairway.

Teddyree said...

LOL, plain english would be good wouldn't it. A bit hard to obey the signs if they don't give you a clue to what they actually mean DUH!

Cheeky Girl said...

I love funny signs too! One of my recent favorites was a sign at Leeds Castle outside London. They had a collection of birds, and this sign was posted next to the cages.

http://picasaweb.google.com/srwpnh/London?feat=directlink

LOL!

Jane L said...

Welcome Back Emily!! Hope you enjoyed your vacation and quiet time with your DH! We treated your guest nice while you were gone! did'nt torment anyone! LOL! My husband and I were in Banff Canada once and we were going to bike a trail, well until you reached the trail there were signs every four feet that said, BEWARE OF BEARS, DO NOT FEED BEARS, WATCH FOR BEARS. BEARS, BEARS, BEARS, Ok by the time we got to the trail I was so petrified of bears I turned around, my husband said "Hey! Where you going?" I said "Back to the hotel where there are no bears!!"

EmilyBryan said...

Heather, you might be right. But since when are stairs a "hatched area?"

Teddyree, we frequently hear that the US and England are "divided by a common language." I was hoping some of my British English speaking friends would be able to translate.

Cheeky, Too funny! No ambiguity either. Here's the link to her Leeds sign Beward of BirdsJane, they always say you should wear a bell when you hike to warn the bears away. I've wondered if it might draw them as well.

EmilyBryan said...

Jane--Just remember, in case of bear attack, you don't have to outrun the bear. You only have to outrun your husband!

Nynke said...

Hi Emily!

I'm probably a bit late for saying 'welcome back', but still - I hope you've settled in nicely and are not missing the azure waters too much :).
My guess for the 'hatched area' sign is similar to Heather D's, except I think the area referred to must be the bit of road side demarcated by the yellow line (you can see it on the large version of the picture!). I guess a typical hatched area would involve more lines, but this must've been the most fitting sign they had lying around :).

EmilyBryan said...

I saw another unusual sign here in Boston yesterday. It said, "THICKLY SETTLED." Well, no joke. That applies to everything east of the Mississippi as far as I'm concerned!

Nynke said...

'thickly settled'? Weird... :)