Heard or seen any stupid/idiotic/ridiculous ads lately? My favorite idiotic ad campaign is the one Taco Bell used last summer to promote the fact that they were open late at night: It's late. Eat more.
I read about a Holiday Inn that had, on its sign out front,
"Have your next affair here".
(Note: These and many other hotels and motels have conference rooms that they rent to groups.)
Saw a hand-written sign at a car sales in some whistle-stop in the Oklahoma Panhandle the other day which read "Cheap cars. Be quick. They won't last".
Not sure it was an English error actually.
"They won't last".
Dear CK: that company is obviously entirely ethical, and practices truth in advertising.
Not sure it was an English error actually.Good eye, CK! You do have a way of seeing the humor in things.
A sign spotted at a quick-food restaurant with gas pumps out front.
Eat Here
Get Gas
(For those not familiar with US idioms -- Gas = Petrol also Gas = heartburn)
The famous sign outside a London transport café just after the war read,
"EAT DIRT CHEAP AT JOE'S CAFE"
Speaking of which and resurrecting a discussion in an old thread, I've been seeing those damned Burma Shave adverts all over since I've been in the States.
Does the firm still exist? If not, it must be one of the few instances where the advertising is mightier than the product or the firm itself!
Dear CK: I found a site on Internet about Burma Shave's history. It was owned by a family named Odell.
In 1963 the Odell Family sold their company to Philip Morris, Inc.
So Philip Morris, Inc. is too stingy to remove signs.
Philip Morris, Inc. is too stingy to remove signs
These signs required maintenance. See the book The Verse by the Side of the Road : The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles by Frank Rowsome, Jr. These things were a cultural icon. They now remind us of a time when things were slower and which we imagine to have been better days (conveniently forgetting all the things that made them the Bad Old Days, a subject which has already been covered here). I would suspect that the land owners, mostly farmers, keep the signs up themselves. The roads that CapK is following, as any of us who have been following his excellent travelog will attest, are roads less traveled now that we have the Interstates. The advertising value of the signs, even if the product does still exist, is minimal, but their nostalgia value is high.
Ogden Nash: I think that I shall never see
A bill-board lovely as a tree.
Perhaps unless the bill-boards fall
I shall never see a tree at all.
Perhaps unless the bill-boards fall
I shall never see a tree at all
Not apropros of Burma-Shave signs, certainly, but funny nonetheless.
I do approve of saving some of the old signs that had good taste in their conception in the first place, which the Burma Shave signs surely did. But a post is where you find it, so I couldn't waste the O.N. bit. And the billboards Nash was complaining about really did obstruct view of scenery. And there were so goddam many of them. I was surprised however that there was an outcry in Boston when the Citgo enormous pyramid of colored bulbs visible from the Red Sox stadium was going to be replaced. The public is unpredictable.
. The public is unpredictable.
Not according to Dr. Hari Sheldon and other pyschohistorians.
"The public is unpredictable."
" Not according to Dr. Hari Sheldon and other pyschohistorians. "
He should make millions in the stock market.
The public is unpredictable.
Not according to Dr. Hari Sheldon and other pyschohistorians.
-------------------------------------
Now, there's a profession I wish I'd known about 40 years ago!
Wait! Wait! could the good doctor use an intern?
I do approve of saving some of the old signs that had good taste in their conception in the first place
In the UK, they have started manufacturing reproductions of the old enamel signs that used to be fixed on blank walls, railway staions and the facias of shops. The "originals" - if you can find them - fetch pheee-nominal prices.
millions in the stock market
I don't think he will concern himself with such small scale phenomena as national economies.
the Citgo enormous pyramid … was going to be replaced.
The Citgo sign at Kenmore Square was/is a landmark in the true sense of the word. It was the first landmark we found when I first came to Boston and many of the places we visited we found by referring to it. Not that it would change Natives' directions much. They'd just replace the phrase at the Citgo sign with where the Citgo sign useta be.
In reply to:
I don't think he will concern himself with such small scale phenomena as national economies.
I think you're probably correct, but perhaps the globalisation that is so often in the news will lead to an economy big enough to merit his interest? Thank you for getting rid of the interloper, too. 
These emoticons can be quite fun.
During the All-Star Game "that soda" unfurled a multinational "multilingual"
Whattsuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup! commercial...dumbest thing I ever saw! Give us a break already!
Grrrr!
How about the automobile commercial that boasts an "impressive lease" deal, and prints it on the screen (I believe the law says they have to) for a duration that only speed readers who watch TV through a magnifying glass could read. I believe the spirit of that "law" was lost in the translation.
ONe of my plastic providers is called Egg, and they send me boring emails with stupid offers. They eggshelled themselves today with this headline:
Win TANK DRIVING + £100 of underwear : Fri 13.7.01On that cheerful thought, I depart for a week in murky Manchester
Win TANK DRIVING + £100 of underwear Sweet mav, does that mean that to enter the contest, you have to drive a tank in your underwear? Woo-hoo! (If it does, can we see a piccie?
So, Vernon, are you refering to the Hari Seldon that wears "Foundation" garments? You sly dog.
consuelo
In reply to:
So, Vernon, are you refering to the Hari Seldon that wears "Foundation" garments?
Of course. That's why I thanked Faldage for his tactful correction of my incorrect spelling.
I just received an idiotic advertisement by e-mail. This is a little long, but very funny. At least I thought so.
Free...Free...Free
Thanks to our sponsors, this beautiful
lightweight Digital one touch auto scan Radio at left will be yours
if you response to the few questions below.
Wear this anywhere you go!
with this attractive lightweight Digital One Touch Auto Scan Radio. Incorporated with the concept of Space . Being wholly hanged on ear, you avoid the trouble of carrying it. Give you the freedom of whatever you do. Idea for a walk or jogging in the park, exercising at the Gym or anyway you feel like enjoying your favorite FM radio Stations.
The iEar radio is designed to hanged comfortably on your ear along with the second earphone, which produce exceptional stereo sound quality music from your favorite radio stations.
iEar uses the state of the art auto scanning technology, with the single touch of a button. It will scan and lock on the Radio station with the best possible signal. It comes in this cool translucent Blue color, and it's so easy to use. Makes you want to bring this anywhere you go this Summer. iEar is powered by 2 included lithium batteries.
Similar gadgets like this sells for $65 in retail store,
but it will be yours FREE.
Our sponsors will assure you that your responses will in no way go into your personal profile.
They are interested in statistical data only.
Rapunzel,
it lost a lot in the translation, eh?
Kind of an ad on a sign in front of a construction site:
"New office environment for Clarica"
Clarica is an insurance company whose ads emphasize word play with Clarity/Clarica.
Environment? Clarity? I think they just needed to fill the rest of the white space on the sign.
Carpe whatever
solrep, nice to have you back, Sweetie. Missed you.
Just five more posts, and you'll no longer be a stranger.
The franchise of a US restaurant chain* over here is advertising something called natural decaf. Could somebody explain this concept to me, please?
*which will remain nameless as a punishment
Bingley
your responses will in no way go into your personal profile
Wait a minute! What personal profile???
Thank you for the link Vernon. I must confess I still don't quite understand what is natural about this process. My next raised eyebrow (and where is the emoticon for this I would like to know) was caused by the sentence:
It is at this point that the bean experiences an ethyl acetate wash.
Are we to envisage a long line of coffee beans queuing up for "The Ethyl Acetate Wash Experience", and buying postcards and T-shirts for their friends afterwards?
Bingley
Are we to envisage a long line of coffee beans queuing up for "The Ethyl Acetate Wash Experience", and buying postcards and T-shirts for their friends afterwards?
Ohmigawd!
Yes, and then the proprietor asks,
"Has everyone bean served?"
The coffee beans that have "experienced" the process of caffeine being removed by ethyl acetate and hot water
might have a tutti-frutti flavor that would be really a novelty. My question is:How in hell can any coffee flavor be left?
>My question is:How in hell can any coffee flavor be left?
I was thinking that was the positive part of the process!
(i'll take my caffein in a can, thank you very much)
they don't, decaf-- no matter what the process, leaves beans that brew up into pale insipid dishwater coffee.. I like my coffee rich, strong and dark*-- i mix half french roast columbian with half dark roast-- and use lots of coffee. but i only drink on cup (12 oz) in the AM.. and every once in a while, i give up caffine for a while to detox.
*just like i like my men--but at least i am almost never disappointed with my coffee!
While we are at it-- What is a "regular" coffee round your way? (not at your favorite coffee shop where they might know what you mean when you ask for your regular?)
My favourite ad was on a billboard in the small town of Malakwa located in the interior of B.C. In an attempt at wordplay, a local company, which bottles and sells spring water, called itself Mal-aqua. Not too bright, but undeniably memorable.
"Mal-aqua"?? None for me, thanks!
Lots of chicanery in the bottled water business. A supermarket in Massachusetts sold bottled water labelled "Pure Spring Water". When a customer discovered that they were taking the water right out of the tap in the stores, the supermarket's defence was that the town claimed its water was from a pure spring.
decaf beans brew up into pale insipid dishwater coffee.. I like my coffee rich, strong and dark*-- half french roast columbian .. half dark roast
Oh, Helen, weep for me.
Doctor took me off "real" coffee after a couple of tachycardia episodes. (I like coffee your way!)
And if that doesn't cause you to cry, consider :
I cannot have chocolate either. (tears in eyes -e) Seems both caffeine and chocolate can cause tachycardia.
On upside : I have found that Maxwell House french roast decaf is prety good ... five big scoops for four cups! And if you cannot have regular ... My son tells me Port City Roasters, local coffee roaster, makes good decaf. So I'll try that too.
Regular, in New England, is with cream and sugar. When I was in Texas I ordered a regular coffee and got black . No cream or sugar.
And coffee in the military, any branch is weak and awful... I guess they make it weak because they drink so much...and think they're getting less caffeine .... little do they know!
(/RANT)
I think this qualifies (quoted from his travelogue):
Still haven’t seen anything as quirky in the cemetery line as the one we passed which had parking spaces outside it with signs saying “Residents Only” standing guard over them.
Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but it seemed the proper place for this (plus I thought some of the newer folks might enjoy it). Today my dad had some mulch delivered to our house, and the receipt contained the following disclaimer:
Product must be pickupd in 14 days of invoice. If not PU'd in 14 days. This PU slip is invalid and you forfeit your product and lose your money.
Product must be pickupd in 14 days of invoice.
Eewww. Anyone knows it's pickupped.
I've seen backup used as a verb and both backuped and backupped as the past tense.
Saw a hand-written sign at a car sales in some whistle-stop in the Oklahoma Panhandle the other day which read "Cheap cars. Be quick. They won't last".
Fiat tried to launch their Nova brand in Mexico. They didn't sell a single car. In Spanish 'No va' means 'Won't go'.
"Cheap cars. Be quick. They won't last."
Not sure it was as English error actually.
Here are a few other examples of bad sentence structure:
outside a secondhand shop:
we exchange anything - bicycles, whashing machines, etc.
why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain?
sign in a laundromat:
automatic washing machines
please remove all your clothes when the light goes out
spotted in a toilet in a London block:
toilet out of order. please use floor below.
And finally, something that ties in more to the theme of this thread:
sign on a repair shop door:
we can repair anything.
(please knock hard on the door - the bell doesn't work)
Rapunzel, you musta read my mind. I saw these three signs in succession in Tennesee (or was it Kentucky?):
Whoa, Baby, WhoaLeave the racing to the horsesBegin construction zoneI had thought to resurect this thread to post them, but thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. No need to search it out!
Whoa, Baby, Whoa
Leave the racing to the horsesThat would be Kentucky. "Go, baby, go" was last year's Derby theme.
Here's a couple for you...
(1) We are always sposed to be SSSOOO impressed when told that our new product "...will be installed by professionals".
To my mind this claim simply means the blokes doing the installing are being paid - probably by the customer.
(2) When I was in my late teens I noticed a handwritten sign at a second hand book store - "Comics Wanted"
I went in and applied for the job. The cretin behind the counter thought I was a cretin!
Apologies to those with long memories - these are both "deja vu" posts!
stales
a handwritten sign at a second hand book store - "Comics Wanted"To entertain their customers, no doubt!
(Ow!)