Another example of confusing signs is one I used to see frequently, "School Bus Stop Ahead." I still have not been able to figure out if that means, "A School-Bus Bus-Stop is ahead;" "School Bus may be around, therefore you may need to Stop Ahead;" or, "There is a School, where there is a Bus Stop, ahead." It is rather confusing to me--the search for brevity has left meaning lurking in the shadows.
I wonder if these confusing signs are actually effective. Is the loss of meaning really catastrophic? Or is it possible that the strangeness of the wording is actually a working component of the sign? It could be argued that the sign loses effectiveness by obscuring the meaning. Because the sign is potentially confusing (or even just amusing), it loses its power to warn. However, I think it may also be possible that the strange wording contributes to the effectiveness of the sign by making the reader think about it. The fact that you are thinking about the oddness of an "Automatic Caution Door" actually draws your attention to the sign, and makes you more aware that there is an automatic door in front of you. With the human tendency to take things for granted, it may be that a sign that said, "Caution, Automatic Door," would pass through our minds unnoticed, because there would be no awkward grammar to catch our attention. A normal sign would fail to warn us at all, whereas an awkward sign would catch our attention, and while a processing delay may be experienced, at least the message is being processed. Since humans tend to ignore things they become accustomed to, an awkwardly worded sign may be more effective, because it confronts us with its strangeness at every opportunity.
I would avoid using that door if I were you! Its thinking for itself and likely to close on you as you attempt to walk through it.
ReplyDeleteRemember the one in Salisbury, Rhodesia. Two wooden exit doors in a church hall. There is a thin pillar down between them. ON the left door it said at the top "Exit" and below that "Door". Then on the right door at the top "Not" and below that "Locked". So if you read its intended message it was a fire escape door and it was saying "Exit Door Not Locked". But as someone from LU, Dr Hindson, pointed out when he was doing a lecture on miscommunication in marriage, it might be saying if you read it normally and horizontally, "Exit Not - Door Locked". The audience loved that as it illustrated perfectly the male way of thinking and communicating v the female way of thinking and communicating. I leave it to your imagination which method spoke it which way, but then so did he.
Well the reason "CAUTION" is in that black block is because it is supposed to be read first. It reads "Caution: Automatic Door", not "Automatic Caution Door".
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