Signs in Ireland are refreshingly open and blunt. They just come right out and say it … no euphemisms, no beating round the bush. They just SAY it.
Examples:
— To let us know a hill is coming up, there was a small yellow sign with a “hill” that was literally almost vertical. And a car snaked its way down it, almost completely on its side. It made it seem like we were about to drive down Everest’s North Face.
— My personal favorite was: along the highways, in various counties, you would get enormous white billboards: 54 PEOPLE HAVE DIED ON THIS ROAD IN THE LAST 5 YEARS. DRIVE SAFELY.
— In New York, you get signs saying, “Curb your dog.” That’s it. You know what it means. Clean up the damn poop, kay, kids?? In Ireland I saw a sign that said: NO FOULING. And then there was a picture of a Scottish terrier-type dog, standing there with his tail up. And below his tail was a pile of shit with steam rising from it. Through the entire image was drawn a line. Saying: Don’t Do This. I LOVED the detail of the steam rising from the dog shit. Much better than “curb your dog”.
— And then, Emily, we saw the sign you and I laughed about: The edge of a pier, with little waves beneath, and a car driving directly off into the water. There isn’t even a line through it! It basically appears to be saying: “There is a possibility that you could just drive your feckin’ car off the pier here. So … if you’re thinking about doing that … just KNOW that you will probably drown.” I remember seeing that sign when I was in Ireland as a kid, and drawing a picture of it in my little journal. Nice to know they’re still around.
But still, my favorite is:
7,000 PEOPLE HAVE DIED ON THIS ROAD SINCE LAST FEBRUARY. DRIVE SAFELY.
And you know what? It worked!! We did drive safely, because of the constantly dire warnings of how deadly the roads were.
Also, we didn’t plummet off of any piers.
Guessing that ‘7000’ sign was at the “hairy roundabout”? ;)
On a serious note, though, the use of literal symbolism tends to be the norm in Ireland with both warning signs and the civic art.. best examples I can think of – the Derry/Londonderry statue commissioned to symbolise the ‘peace’ process – two figures reaching out to each other with fingertips not quite touching.. in bronze! A complete waste of the bronze IMO… and ‘A Spire’ in Dublin – both for the shape but the title.. sheesh. And you thought the film moments were cheesy.
‘A spire’ heh heh heh yeah, what is THAT about?
I just liked the blatant-ness of the warnings.
“Don’t do this. You will die immediately.”
Damn, that “hairy roundabout”. It was the only roundabout (or at least the only one we drove thru) that needed to have stop lights at every single entrance. There were 8 roads entering the roundabout … all with crazy green lights and yellow lights … but still, the chaos raged. Unbelievable.
Several years ago, I found myself driving through Michigan’s Upper Penninsula.
Every so often, we would drive past a lake, and there would be a sign reading “Lake Ashland” or “Lake Trempealeau” or whatever.
Then, we reached a stretch of highway that ran along the shore of Lake Michigan. Sure enough, after thirty minutes or so, we saw a sign of the same type reading “Lake Michigan”.
It struck me as funny, as if I was driving along the Pacific coast and coming across a sign that read “Pacific Ocean”.
I guess when they passed the law requiring the highway department to put signs by all of the lakes, there was no specific exception made for Lake Michigan…
A ’roundabout’ with stoplights? That’s just a junction with pretensions!
and the blatantness of everything worries me on so many levels.. is that the standard of the artists, graphic and otherwise? Or are the people commissioning them so dull AND in control that that’s all they will let pass? For everyone else it’s just like getting hit over the head with a shovel, a lot.
My sister’s ex is from England, and he says in the town where his grandmother lives there is a sign that reads “THIS SIGN HAS BEEN ERECTED FOR THE PUBLIC SAFETY.” No holes, no ditches, nothing that might cause peril or harm that is obvious to the eye. Just a sign. Erected for public safety.
One of my best vacations ever was a two week solo trip out to Jasper to do a couple of hikes in the Rockies. On the way back I crossed into the US in Idaho in the late evening. Just before I got to Hwy 2 I stopped at a store and picked up a six pack and a pack of Marlboro, the first American smokes in about 12 days.
I headed east on 2 just rockin’. Back in the USA, good road, no traffic that late, tunes blasting, a beer and an oh so good Marlboro. Heading to Kalispell. And then the first white cross just off the road. And more as I went further. Every so often, along curves or bridges, multiples. Each I realized, someone who’d died along that road.
It was sobering and made me more careful, but in another way, I hope this doesn’t sound odd, it made appreciate even more that I was alive.
I love the “don’t drive off the pier, you idiot” sign. I’ve not actually SEEN the sign (never been to Ireland) but your description of it makes me chuckle.
I remember as a kid on a cross-country trip, my brother and I laughed at the “cow crossing” signs. There’d just be this silhouette of a cow, and you were supposed to know that it meant “watch out, sometimes cows cross this road.” (The same with deer-crossing signs – how do they know the deer are going to pop out of the forest RIGHT THERE?). And “Watch out for Falling Rocks” is another good one.
in Texas, they have signs that say “Drive Friendly.” I presume that means “don’t shoot the idiot in the car ahead of you, even if he did pull onto the interstate from an on-ramp and he is currently doing 45 in a 70 zone.” (Which I have seen happen – the person going 45 in a 70 zone, not their getting shot for it). Or maybe it just means “don’t flip people off,” I don’t know.
I’ve never heard of the “Drive Friendly” sign … we could use some of those in Jersey!!
Ricki – I took a picture of the “if you drive off this pier you will drown” sign – I’ll see if I can’t scan it and then post it. heh heh So funny!
Maryland had, maybe still does, signs that say “Drive Gently” on the bridges leading from WVA and VA across the Potomac.
Saw the one with the car driving off the pier as we waited to board the ferry to the Aran Islands 4 years ago. We all got a kick out of it. I like the way there aren’t any fences, etc around things like the Cliffs of Moher…if you’re dumb enough to get blown off well…that’s what you get.
There was also a funny word for gravel in Ireland that I can’t remember anymore….
When i was in Ireland with my sisters in … 1998 or something … a woman was blown right off the Cliffs of Moher. What the hell was she doin’ out there on a windy night anyway?? I love, too, how the cows and sheep, munching on grass, stroll right up to the edge of the abyss. Unaware, unafraid. Chilled out to the extreme. “Oh, whatever, I’m just a sheep, and I’m hungry and here’s some grass over here …”
Yep…those sheep…everywhere…as if they own the joint! We saw one with it’s head stuck in what has to have been the only wire-type fence in all of Ireland-it was on the side of a very steep hill (or cliff really) that went down to the beach near the village of Glencolumbcille in Donegal. My husband freed it…good deed of the day. The others were grazing on the grassy green sides that were basically straight up and down.
Speaking of cliffs and death…tales of people being blown off were also mentioned at Dun Aengus “fort” on Inishmore Island. The winds were ferocious and people found out in a hurry that it will pick you up and take you off the cliff. My favorite place in all of Ireland.
I love seeing the sheep on almost-vertical hills. So cute!
Dun Aengus is, indeed, spectacular – in this ferocious kind of way. My sister and I, tromping up there through the cow-shit on a freezing November day, christened it: “DUNG Aengus.”
But still – amazing place.