Thursday, October 18, 2012

Bet You Read it Wrong, Too

Pam and I went to Steak 'n Shake. It had been over a month, maybe longer, since we'd had dinner together and there was much catching up to do. On the way there, we made a left turn before some road construction. The usual flashing sign was before the road narrowed.

"Cell Phones Prohibited"

"In Work Zones"

And then this. Bet you read it the way we did, at first.


We both saw it. Pam pointed it out and I said, "Yes, I see it." "No," she said. "Look at it."

It's quite interesting how the mind works. There are a number of Internet memes that make the rounds regarding how well you can read even if the words are misspelled. Both of us take great pride in our language skills and we both read "protect" simply because that's what we knew it was supposed to be. We had a nice chuckle about this.

These are the kinds of signs that you will occasionally read about people hacking into to have "Zombies Ahead" flash instead of some construction warning. I'm kind of the opinion that we become inured to these signs and, eventually, we don't even notice what they say. Generally, it's the same thing. "One Lane Road" or "Speed Limit 55" or "No Left Turn". I think if they had a couple, one flashing, "Slow Down Zombies" and then the other "Not Really" and "Just One Lane", or something similar, people would slow down simply because the warnings are not the usual stuff. Advertisers know that you have to constantly come up with a new way to get your point across. Pam and I wondered if IDOT was trying the same thing.

Or not. This is the highway department. That might be giving them too much credit.

Beverage:  Raspberry tea

Deb

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