Confederacy of a Dunce - Disposing of your extra words

Friday, June 24, 2005

There seems to be a strange tendency in these parts to use excessive words on public signage. I always thought it was a rule (if not a law) that a sign should express its message efficiently and briefly. Like the following, for example:

On the other hand, every day I ride to work, I pass an anti-littering sign. Not the various sorts of brief, effective signs like these...

but something very much like this:

I want to know why "provided" is included on the sign. If the bins were not provided, it would be pretty difficult to place all rubbish in them. And does it really matter whether rubbish-holders place their rubbish in the provided bins, or some other bins? To me the main goal would be to stop them ("from" goes here in US English) littering near the provided bins, not filling the provided bins with as much rubbish as possible (ideally, all of it). What really concerns me is that the aforementioned sign (and the image itself) is listed by "The Sign Factory-Falkirk" under the "Mandatory Signs" category. I don't have such a sign up, but perhaps I should. The category also includes some other overly-wordy signs (Lock This Door #1, Lock This Door #2, Lock This Door #3,, Shut This Door). If only every sign were as clear, efficient and effective as NO SPECTACLE WRANGLING.

language

Friday, June 24, 2005 9:50:56 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)