Sunday, August 1, 2010

Ever spotted a road sign and wondered what on earth it represents?

From the obvious double entendre, through to a poor individual on a wheelchair, rolling down a slope towards an open crocodile’s mouth - there’s some strange ones out there.

So many in fact, that American Doug Lansky has created an exhibition which showcases amusing signs from around the world.
And he’s just brought it to Dubai.

Lansky, who’s made a career out of travelling the globe, has selected a collection of his favourite signs from literally tens of
thousands that people have submitted to his web site www.signspotting.com.

Doug’s love of silly signs started when he decided to ditch his office job and take time out to travel the world. He’s seen a lot, having spent two and a half years doing everything from snowmobile guiding in the Alps, selling carpets in Morocco to picking bananas in Israel.

But it’s a sign he spotted in his home-land that he loves the most.

“I recall really liking this ‘25 mph’ sign on El Mirage dry lake - a high-speed test driving area,” he laughs.

“But my favourites tend to change about as  often as my favourite song. Another of my early favourites was a sign in Hawaii that

said ‘Bottomless Pit’. Underneath that, it said ‘65 feet deep’!”

But Doug admits he’s been beaten in the humour stakes by the vast number of signs submitted by the visitors to his web site.  
“It’s worth noting that none of the signs I saw myself are as funny as those I’ve had sent in. I’ve photographed about 20 to 30 and I’ve had over 30,000 sent in, so the odds are stacked against me.

None of my signs were good enough to make it into the exhibit!”

Surprisingly, says Doug, it’s signposts from countries with English as the first language that often don’t make sense.

“I  get the most signs from English-speaking countries like America, Britain, Australia and New Zealand,” he explains. “It’s a bit easier on the conscience to laugh when it comes from an English-speaking land, rather than someplace bending over backwards to be helpful to tourists.

Having said that, I think it’s OK to enjoy the humour of their miscommunication as long as we realise we’d have foreigners rolling in the streets with laughter if we tried to translate our signs into their languages.” And for those of us who have followed signs to Garhoud only to realise we’re on the way to Sharjah 5km in, Doug says he’s encountered Dubai’s sign-stupidity first hand.

“While setting up the exhibit in Dubai, with the help of five workers who didn’t really speak much English, there was plenty of
miscommunication and several signs were initially put in the wrong place.

“But while doing an all-night set up, the irony of it was somewhat lost on me at 4am!”

See the signs and upload your own
‘The Signspotting Project’ exhibition is being staged as part of the Dubai Fringe Festival and runs now until February 28 at Festival Marina promenade, DFC. It’s free and open all day everyday.

For more details, visit the web site www.festivalcentre.com. And if you’ve spotted a funny sign here in the UAE, share it with the world by uploading it at www.7days.ae/your7daysor, if you can’t master the technology of uploading, send it via email to letters@7days.ae.

Happy snapping!

eve.dugdale@7days.ae