Signs of the Times

[LyndaD]

Originally Posted by ButterscotchCat

Actually, according to DH (who is bi-lingual) Punta Gorda is "Fat Point": The other funny thing that may be is Pouta (sp?) Gorda, which means Fat Bitch.

Actually, according to my students, it's spelled puta. And it does not mean bitch (a female dog is perra in Spanish). Puta means whore.

[ButterscotchCat]

Originally Posted by LyndaD

Actually, according to my students, it's spelled puta. And it does not mean bitch (a female dog is perra in Spanish). Puta means whore.

Yep, that is the other translation DH gave to me.

[Chloe]

Originally Posted by ButterscotchCat

We drove through Santa Barbara last weekend. While on the detour to get back to the freeway, there was a large orange sign, that looked like a CalTrans sign that stated "Indio Muerto business is open" I asked DH what Indio Muerto meant. He said it meant "Dead Indian". I was curious as to whether there is a large market for dead indians.

There was in Shakespearean England: "When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian."

[Errata]

Originally Posted by ButterscotchCat

Actually, according to DH (who is bi-lingual) Punta Gorda is "Fat Point": The other funny thing that may be is Pouta (sp?) Gorda, which means Fat Bitch.

Your husband obviously didn't learn Spanish on urbandictionary.com.

There is more than one proper definition. Besides "point", there is also "end".

[ButterscotchCat]

The other day I was driving to Port Hueneme on the old farm roads. Saw a billboard the said "Next time try this . . ." I was driving so I couldn't take a photo. I was rather confused for sometime as in "try what?" I'll try to go by again and take a photo.

[obxbaby54]

This was posted back in 2007. It was a billboard of Dale Earnheart Jr. (spelling?). The complete message is,

Same Driver, Same Red Car, Different Number.

Drunk people can't count anyway"

And apparently punctuate or capitalize correctly, either.

[ButterscotchCat]

O.K. here we go. I almost twisted an ankle snapping this photo which was taken on Gonzales between Harbor and Victoria

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by LyndaD

Actually, according to my students, it's spelled puta. And it does not mean bitch (a female dog is perra in Spanish). Puta means whore.

Not directed at you LyndaD I'm launching off your post, but why would anyone ever name a street "Fat Whore Street" even in a non local language? Our local streets are named after painters and cricketers - half of whom I've never heard of but at least "Frank Wooley Road" and "Turner Drive" have less potential to offend.

[Errata]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

Not directed at you LyndaD I'm launching off your post, but why would anyone ever name a street "Fat Whore Street" even in a non local language?

It's "puta" that means whore. The street is "punta". I think she was just clarifying possible confusion of the two. "punta" also has an unfortunate modern slang connotation, but the original meaning was "fat point", referring to a feature of the coastline near the street.

The street was named in the 19th century, back when California was a Spanish colony and Spanish was the local language. Blame the Spanish for not naming it after cricketers.

Indio Muerto was from around the same time, and it was named because of some incident with a dead Indian. But keep in mind that the Spanish were mostly living with and trying to convert the natives rather than killing them off, so it's not a reference to genocide.

[htonl]

Not, strictly speaking, a sign, but I thought it would fit in here.

[Photo Bob]

Every time I passed this sign over the past many years, I said I have to get a picture of it. Today I finally stopped and took it.



Photo "If you saw Denny's man boobs you'd know why he is so proud" Bob

[llewtrah]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/8355143.stm

Motorists on a busy commuter route into Bristol may be surprised to see the distance to Timbuktu on a street sign. It indicates a left turn for "Timbuktu 2384 (miles)" (the distance is more-or-less correct apparently).

A Bristol City Council spokeswoman said the sign was a spoof, did not contribute to road safety and would be removed .

[Eddylizard]

YOMANK.

They should leave it be. It would definately give a bit of light relief in the summer after several hours crawling behind half a million caravanners around the area. Hey know what? they have houses, cottages and hotels in Avon, Devon and Somerset, made out of bricks and stone, and if you rent one you won't have to shit in a bucket and try to cook your breakfast over a glorified BiC lighter. The snail carries it's home around with it, a himan shouldn't.

A Bristol City Council spokeswoman said the sign was a spoof

Really?

it isn't making the road any safer.

Yeah, someone might drive into the sea in an attempt to drive to Timbuktu, which would be bad.

We're not killjoys

A matter of opinion.

We need the signs to be clear. Timbuktu isn't that

Depends. Does it actually point in the direction of Timbuktu? In which case it's clear.

[Tarquin Farquart]

I used to live near that sign. (at least I think so based on the distances)

Let's have one on the M5, Junction 19.

[Richard W]

I didn't spot any particularly great examples on my latest trip but here are a couple.

This one should probably go in the unnecessary quotation marks blog:



Would you drink it?

And I spotted this one on a lamp pole at the viewpoint by St George's Chapel in Athens:



It's obviously a joke but I was pleased to notice it as there were loads of people around and as far as I could tell, nobody else even looked. (Except for a couple of Greek people who looked at it when they saw me taking a picture, but I don't think they got it.)

[Ravenhull]

Originally Posted by htonl

Not, strictly speaking, a sign, but I thought it would fit in here.

Years ago, I saw pictures of two plumbing company trucks.

One's motto was: A Straight Flush beats a Full House

The other was: We're Number One in Number Two

I think the 'Next time try...' sign is going to be one of those that in a week or so, will have a bit more wording... then a bit more. Kinda like doing a time based Burma Shave. Of course, some of us don't want to wait for the pitch/punch line.

[TripleAAA]

A sign in front of a church gave me medical advice.

"The best vitamin for a christian is B1"

[kitap]

Originally Posted by TripleAAA

A sign in front of a church gave me medical advice.

"The best vitamin for a christian is B1"

So B12 would be for the Apostles?

[TrishDaDish]

Sign in Orlando 3 or so years ago:




And from a convenience store up the road a few years back (doesn't exist anymore):



Trish "Why the nfbsk are you smoking ice cream?!" DaDish

[Fuchsia]

From an auto dealer Web site:

Nobody Beats a PAPAS PRICE... call us at --- --- ---- to
get the best Price ANYWHERE!!!!!! Call & watch us listen!!!!

How do you watch someone listen during a traditional phone call?