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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
As recently coined by New Scientist, semiopathy is (as now defined at PseudoDictionary.com): The syndrome of deriving a meaning from a sign which is not that which was originally intended. New Scientist has collected some semiopathic signage here: http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2C265742. and has introduced subtypes: the “time-flies,” the “domain-specific,” and the “serendipitous.” I would like to introduce a cousin, the non-sign semiopathic statement. Two recent examples: A headline from the Lansing State Journal on 10/29/02: N.C. pageant contestant gets shot at ‘World’ titleFrom a recently released appellate court decision: The federal appeals court also remanded the issue whether Microsoft had illegally tied its browser and operating systems to the federal district court.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
It's funny but, makeashorterline? You mought could make it easier on us poor mortals did you change that to makeashorterlink.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Done. Now try.
BTW, wish me happy birthday.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
BTW, was your original makeashorterline pseudosemiopathy?
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
more in keeping with the article, i always felt a little sad driving on Conneticut's Wilber Cross parkway, (it starts as the Hutchison River Parkway in NY) where you find signs warning about "Depressed Storm Sewer" but come to think of it, being a sewer is a sort of depressing job...
and crossing thread, some years ago, there was a funny picture somewhere on the net, of what, in US is called a speed bump, but in UK(Jamaica)english is called a 'sleeping policeman'. There was a sign warning "Sleeping Policeman" and sure enough, leaning his head against the sign post was a sleeping police man!
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
we did this before we knew the word semiopathy, and the subset of types. http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=5091-- but i am sure we can continue with many new examples-- Take Our Word for it, in there just for laugh's sections has had several new ones, (i'll come back and add a link) with so many new people here, i am sure this can be done a fresh... but its still fun to look at some of the old examples...
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
The greatest part of semiopathy seems to be puns (not, of course, that I know a whole heck of a lot about puns, you understand), but that sentence about the court remand is nothing more than crappy construction of a sentence. Moving the last five words to follow the sixth word makes the sentence perfectly clear.
TEd
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Forgive the surplus.
Back to my Fun page
More silly signs
At a Santa Fe gas station:
"We will sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container."
In a New York restaurant:
"Customers who consider our waitresses uncivil ought to see the manager."
On the wall of a Baltimore estate:
"Trespassers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law." - Sisters of Mercy"
On a long-established New Mexico dry cleaners:
"38 years on the same spot."
In a Los Angeles dance hall:
"Good clean dancing every night but Sunday."
In a Florida maternity ward:
"No children allowed."
In a New York drugstore:
"We dispense with accuracy."
In the offices of a loan company:
"Ask about our plans for owning your home."
In a New York medical building:
"Mental Health Prevention Center"
On a New York convalescent home:
"For the sick and tired of the Episcopal Church."
On a Maine shop:
"Our motto is to give our customers the lowest possible prices and workmanship.."
At a number of military bases:
"Restricted to unauthorized personnel."
On a display of "I love you only" Valentine cards:
"Now available in multi-packs."
In the window of a Kentucky appliance store:
"Don't kill your wife. Let our washing machine do the dirty work."
In a funeral parlor:
"Ask about our layaway plan."
In a clothing store:
"Wonderful bargains for men with 16 and 17 necks."
In a Tacoma, Washington men's clothing store:
"15 men's wool suits, Å10. They won't last an hour¤"
On a shopping mall marquee:
"Archery Tournament-Ears pierced"
Outside a country shop:
"We buy junk and sell antiques."
In the window of an Oregon store:
"Why go elsewhere and be cheated when you can come here?"
In a Maine restaurant:
"Open 7 days a week and weekends."
On a radiator repair garage:
"Best place to take a leak."
In the vestry of a New England church:
"Will the last person to leave please see that the perpetual light is extinguished."
In a Pennsylvania cemetery:
"Persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves."
On a roller coaster:
"Watch your head."
On the grounds of a public school:
"No trespassing without permission."
On a Tennessee highway:
"When this sign is under water, this road is impassable."
Similarly, in front of a New Hampshire car wash:
"If you can't read this, it's time to wash your car."
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
A sign on a power pole outside a cemetery in upstate New York: "Residents Parking Only" ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear CK "Oh death, where is thy sting?"
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
You mean a Stingray, don't you?
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
You mean a Stingray, don't you?
I thought you drove a yellow striped slug?
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