Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Road Humor

While traveling, I often find humor in ads and on the road that I suspect no one else sees. (fish dressed in clothes is something that will always put a smile on my face) I'm not sure what that means, but I do know that I have a sense of humor not shared by most people. While on my last road trip, I thought about it and decided that irony plays a huge role in my sense of humor. My children will agree when they learn that the short story "The Monkey's Paw" is all about irony. Although Groundhog's Day is one of their favorite movies, they became very annoyed when I asked them "Have you ever read 'The Monkey's Paw'?" about a dozen times. That, alone, is ironic.
Sometimes double meanings of road signs strike me as funny. I put this one in the same category as "Soft Shoulders" signs along the highway. Dave says I need to explain the one above: "loose" and "fresh" have meanings associated with guys and gals. I just thought that was an appropriate pairing "fresh" oil (guys) with "loose" gravel (gals).
Several years ago, we had a referendum to ban billboards. Some "outdoor advertising" people decided it would be great fun to throw up billboards all along I-70 so they could be "grandfathered in"---hmm! Can't seem to find enough advertisers for those signs, now.
I am mildly dyslexic which sometimes colors my humor. When two roads near us were re-aligned (Henry and Schoettler), I suggested we call them "Hen Schoett" road. If these two communities should merge, might I suggest "Flemingo [sic] Park"?

Here's a truck we spotted in the "Bible Belt"---it made me smile.
Here's one that actually made me frown.
While I know he means to be patriotic, I'm sure he'd think someone walking on the flag would be insulting to the good old USA. But, mudflaps are OK?

Sometimes signs just fly by and I can't get the camera out fast enough. One from our trip to Texas was a sign for a store "Antiques and Belly dancing Attire." Sometimes it's two unrelated businesses signs that I find humorous "Birthright" and "Budget Motel $24.95" shared the same posts. Another one I spotted outside Warrenton, MO was for "Maze Auto Collision" And what did they expect in a maze?

1 comment:

Leah Morgan Korbel said...

I love it-""Maze Auto Collision'. Yeah, what would they expect!?

Between Two Worlds

Most of my life, I've considered it fortunate that I was just ahead of the Baby-boom. Generally, the Baby-boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 after the fathers returned from World War II. It was a huge population explosion that has reverberated through American society.

This blog will be part history, part memories, part reflections of a retired teacher, but active "Senior". I have always felt like I straddled two generations forming a bridge. Sometimes I think like a baby-boomer, but sometimes I'm locked into my parents' Depression era thinking. I'm a dichotomy of two eras. But, I'm always ready to try something new---so here I am dipping my toes in the water of Blogworld.