Communication Skills?

Every day I see a sign or two that's a spectacular, apalling, or amusing failure of communication. It seems to me that a sign, particularly a sign that alerts people to possible dangers, should communicate as clearly and as efficiently as possible. One of my favorites is a sign I saw in Portland, Maine that reads "ATTENTION PROPANE TANK." And I'm supposed to do what? Or two signs on a door, one reading "Close Door" and the other reading "Due to a wind pressure issue!" OK, I kind of see the connection. Maybe the second sign was covering up a big "Why?" scrawled on the door.

Other signs start out clear, but gradually, through the effects of weather, human intervention, or burned out bulbs, become less clear. Even with contextual clarity, you can't deny the humor of "Burlington oat Factory." Then there are the mispellings, usually in handwritten signs. It's a wonderful way to broadcast your lack of proofing skills, lack of education or lack of concern for precision and spelling conventions. I went to one of my favorite places for lunch the other day but was turned away by a handwritten sign declaring: "Temporaly Close Due to water Shortage." And there's the farm stand at the end of a dirt road in Temple, New Hampshire with a large sign that reads, "EGG's." Who knows, maybe the eggs DO actually own something. And finally, there are signs that are just plain funny in their subject matter, unusual wording, or chaotic arrangement of elements. A restaurant parking lot in Cambridge, Massachusetts proclaims "Customer parking only. Violators will be towed perfunctorily." Then there's the interesting juxtaposition of signs on two adjacent doors on the side of a building that I see every day on my coffee run. One sign says "Please keep the area in front of this door free of objects so that it can be used immediately." Huh? By the time I got to the end of the sentence I forgot the beginning. The sign next to it simply reads "Fire Door - Keep Clear." Ok, now I get it.