Monday, September 17, 2018

Reading Signs


Weird things capture my attention. We stopped in Green River, Utah, to get a cup of coffee at the roadside McDonalds. We parked next door so there was room for our car and camper and I was walking to McDonalds when I spotted this sign guarding the drive-through lane. It struck me as odd and I paused to try to understand just what it said.

My experience as a reader of English assuming the meaning of words should be interpreted from left to right automatically triggered my interpretation as a warning related to the direction one should take through the drive through and the car behind the sign seemed to be moving in the wrong direction based on this interpretation. This all happened automatically in my brain and how my brain works has always been a source of personal fascination. Psychologists may be more prone to find such things fascinating. Upon further reflection, I decided that the sign creator was a poor designer and could have used a little more training.

By the way, Green River watermelons are a thing and after trying one I am a fan. Evidently, hot days in the desert in combination with the water from a nearby river provide great conditions for producing great watermelons.

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