Fri 27 Feb 2009
Introducing Mnorgovudkka™!
Posted by anaglyph under Ephemera, Food & Drink, Signs, True Fiction, Words
[19] Comments
Signs
Archived Posts from this Category
Mon 9 Feb 2009
NAND
Posted by anaglyph under Signs, Skeptical Thinking, Words
[11] Comments
On the Hume Highway north of Melbourne. A surprising number of people fail to take the turn.
Mon 2 Feb 2009
Coat of Warm Hands
Posted by anaglyph under Australiana, Hmmm..., Signs
[9] Comments
In today’s lesson, we are studying the Australian Coat of Arms, that features, as you will have noticed, a kangaroo and an emu supporting a shield. The shield is divided into six portions, each illustrating one of the six Australian states. The Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, not being yer actual ‘states’, are not represented by any pictures, but their inclusion (and any further inclusions*) is supposedly implied by the seven pointed star above the shield (I can just imagine the marketing meeting where they spun that one up…).
In case you ever visit Australia, and find yourself in the bathroom of a pub using a ‘Turbo’ brand hand dryer, this is not the Australian Coat of Arms (if can’t quite make it out, the kangaroo is drying his paws while the emu looks on):
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*I swear, with Little Johnny Howard at the helm it wouldn’t have been too long before we were launching missiles on New Zealand or somewhere (in order to overthrow some despotic dictator, of course).
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Sat 13 Dec 2008
The Ravell’d Sleave of Care
Posted by anaglyph under Signs, Travel, Words
[8] Comments
One of the great pleasures I enjoy while travelling is spying products on supermarket shelves that challenge my sense of reality. This happens mostly in non-English speaking countries, where the translations into The Mother Tongue throw up all kinds of novelty (you may recall my adventures in Vietnam), but there are also treasures to be found in countries that actually call English their main language.
The ol’ US of A is a case in point. Exhibit A, to the left here, must surely be the cause of great confusion among the sleep-deprived.
Of course, it all makes sense when you spy the word ‘homeopathic’ under the Hylands name – like all homeopathic remedies it makes a bet each way, simultaneously declaring to be completely effective while also claiming to have no unwanted effects. The product name itself is a masterpiece in doublespeak: Calms Forté: ‘strong calm’ – the implication being that it’s an extra-strength version of the usual formula ‘Calms’. Well, since we know that homeopathy works in reverse to normal logic, this must mean that Calms Forté has even less than the usual ‘active’ ingredient* of standard Calms…
And in our kitchen at work, a product which should surely be walking off the shelves (jumping, even), especially at this time of year.
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*It can’t be chamomile. Chamomile contains substances that are actually known to promote sleep (and drowsiness) when taken in appropriate quantities and homeopathic remedies never have an ‘active’ ingredient that makes any sense.
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Wed 23 Jul 2008
Safety Tip
Posted by anaglyph under Philosophy, Signs
[19] Comments
A lot like life, really.
Sun 20 Jul 2008
Clarification
Posted by anaglyph under Signs
[8] Comments
Picture courtesy of Anne Arkham. She brings to our attention the consideration of the sign makers in making sure that a pictorial representation was included for the illiterate and those from non-English speaking countries.
And smell-challenged dogs, I guess.
