This week I have been revelling in road side signs. And shop signs. And any kind of sign really.
In England, a sign is generally just a thing you look at for information. Here, its a place to display the creativity that everyone obviously has oozing out of their pores and cannot find a normal creative outlet for. To proudly plaster that most Australian of things 'the pun'.
There is a wide range to observe. Some may remember I previously mentioned the gorgeous freeway billboard proclaiming "PERFECT CONDITIONS!!!... for melanoma". Like what they did there. It raises the spirit, and then brings it crashing down. Recent highlights include the plumbers van that I passed on the way to work "We repair the problems your husband 'fixed'". Nice use of the inverted commas. Or the furniture shop on Parramatta road which boasts "butt ugly men making handsome furniture for beautiful people".
While some are truly terrible, making you cringe in the style of an Anne Hathaway film, "bedding and blankets... they're the sheet!" I have become rather fond of the distraction they bring to a normal bus ride. If only I could now stop sniggering out loud everytime I pass one. I don't seem to manage a bus ride without getting some kind of shushing or dodgy look from someone.
But its very hard to keep a poker face when asked where you are meeting this evening and having to shamefacedly whisper "Thai me up" down the phone, in the hope that those around you will realise you are talking about an Asian eatery, rather than planning a 50 shades moment. Or when your phone alerts you to a free wifi hotspot which you excitedly click on to only to discover its called "just fucking try it... I dare you". Or where men in speedos walk barefoot down a major street and no-one bats an eyelid. Ok, so that has nothing to do with signs. But it still constitutes a good morning distraction.
In England, a sign is generally just a thing you look at for information. Here, its a place to display the creativity that everyone obviously has oozing out of their pores and cannot find a normal creative outlet for. To proudly plaster that most Australian of things 'the pun'.
There is a wide range to observe. Some may remember I previously mentioned the gorgeous freeway billboard proclaiming "PERFECT CONDITIONS!!!... for melanoma". Like what they did there. It raises the spirit, and then brings it crashing down. Recent highlights include the plumbers van that I passed on the way to work "We repair the problems your husband 'fixed'". Nice use of the inverted commas. Or the furniture shop on Parramatta road which boasts "butt ugly men making handsome furniture for beautiful people".While some are truly terrible, making you cringe in the style of an Anne Hathaway film, "bedding and blankets... they're the sheet!" I have become rather fond of the distraction they bring to a normal bus ride. If only I could now stop sniggering out loud everytime I pass one. I don't seem to manage a bus ride without getting some kind of shushing or dodgy look from someone.
But its very hard to keep a poker face when asked where you are meeting this evening and having to shamefacedly whisper "Thai me up" down the phone, in the hope that those around you will realise you are talking about an Asian eatery, rather than planning a 50 shades moment. Or when your phone alerts you to a free wifi hotspot which you excitedly click on to only to discover its called "just fucking try it... I dare you". Or where men in speedos walk barefoot down a major street and no-one bats an eyelid. Ok, so that has nothing to do with signs. But it still constitutes a good morning distraction.
An advertisement of a different kind...
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