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.<\/p>\n
Examples:<\/p>\n
— 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.<\/p>\n
— 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.<\/p>\n
— 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<\/i> with steam rising from it<\/i>. 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”.<\/p>\n
— 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.<\/p>\n
But still, my favorite is:<\/p>\n
7,000 PEOPLE HAVE DIED ON THIS ROAD SINCE LAST FEBRUARY. DRIVE SAFELY.<\/p>\n
And you know what? It worked!! We did<\/i> drive safely, because of the constantly dire warnings of how deadly the roads were.<\/p>\n
Also, we didn’t plummet off of any piers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 … Continue reading