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Joined: Jan 2001
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addict
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OP
addict
Joined: Jan 2001
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On another thread we've been discussing a bumper sticker, and I've got questions.
First, wasn't sure that I'd got my interpretation right because we're not big on bumper stickers here, except for "Baby on board", I guess. But I've heard about bumper stickers in other countries. Are they meant to define the driver, the car, to be quirky, or funny, or inspirational, or everything at once? Are there different genres of bumper sticker?
Then, are they only called "bumper stickers" when they go on the bumper? I've seen the ones which are stuck on the inside of the back window; are these also called "bumper stickers" or something else?
Last, bumper sticker discourse seems to be language at play to a great extent, with ambiguities, cross-references, double meanings, metaphors... have you got any interesting examples which you'd care to share?
EDIT: I've just checked and there are a couple of historical threads about bumper stickers on the board already, but I think they are more about specific sticker texts, so I still put forward my more generic questions... Having said that, I note the undebatable convenience of checking first and posting afterwards!
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
They're bumper stickers wherever they go. They can be used for any of the variety of purposes you've outlined and then some. They're not even limited to one purpose each.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
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My own favorite bumper sticker (torn off by hooligans...*sob*) was
"If things improve with age, I must be approaching magnificent" (or something like that)
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
well to my way of thinking, bumper stickers are made from strong, water resistant paper (or perhaps some sort of plastic coated paper) with adhesive on the back (and i am impressed that Consuela had one ripped off her car, my experience is the bumper sticker is stronger than metal, and its easier to rip off the whole bumper than to remove the sticker!)
the stuff in the windows--most often (but not limited to) college or university names, are decals. --these too are pretty permenent.
side window often have decals that are required for use of local parks, parking lots, or are attempting to convince a policeman that the driver/owner of the car is also a police man(or the father/mother/sister/brother of one), and shouldn't be given a ticket.
a smaller percentage of side window decals advertize alarm systems, or other other stuff.
nowdays, some of the things stuck on cars are magnets.
you can buy magnetic sheets no thicker than card stock and run them through a printer.. (though most home printers don't have water proof inks). the commercial ones are made with water proof inks --but they are often not sun proof, and the colors and text rapidly fade.
they are also often dye cut, in the shape of a loop of twisted ribbon, so its not clear if the ribbon was Yellow, or red, white and blue, or pink or some other color-and which particular cause you are/were supporting.
the Magnetic ones are popular because they are easy to remove.
large magnetic signs are also available.. and these are used by hobbiest part time independant entrepenours as advertizements --they can place them on the family car when they are the Avon Lady and hosting a party.. and peel them off when they are just mom and grocery shopping. )
as for all the other stuff, (country code stickers, AAA stickers, well i don't quite think of them as bumperstickers..
bumper stickers, even (especially?) political ones are not very popular in NYC--
for years, i think the most common bumper sticker in the north east was "This Car Climbed Mount Washington" but some people objected to having it stuck on their car, and now its just placed (with its backing intact) on the windsheild, and fewer and fewer cars sport them.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Bumper stickers are seldom seen on Québec cars. It seems to have been more popular in the eighties/early nineties.
Generally, they are/were of the (light) humourous variety, i.e. "There's no such thing as gravity, the earth sucks" or, a bumper sticker reading, "My other car is a porsche" pasted on an an old, beat-up car.
I've never seen a political bumper sticker. I have seen a couple of fish stickers - the one that is a line-drawing of a fish, like a kiddy would make, that I'm told represents Jesus.
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
I think that the use of bumper stickers has diminished due to people leasing cars these days instead of owning them outright. I notice that university towns tend to have more vehicles with bumper stickers. One that I saw frequently in the Kalamazoo area was "Free Leonard Peltier", Kalamazoo being an area with a large indigineous population. http://www.freepeltier.org/ One that I particularly liked was "What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about?"
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
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> use of bumper stickers has diminished
not here in Vermont...
> Hokey Pokey
always one of my favorites, too.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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That's it Faldage. Thanks.
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 87
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 87 |
Lots of bumper stickers and window stickers here in Central Ohio, too. Political, especially, with the last presidential election. Religious, funny, informative (like an advertisement), and MANY ribbon stickers (for breast cancer and support our troops, mostly). There are also a dismaying number of those flags that people put on the window frame of the car - Buckeyes, those are, unless someone has a high school or another university to cheer for. FOOTBALL, doncha know.
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? -Ursula K. Le Guin, author (1929- )
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