Semiotic Overkill

[steepholm]

This rather lovely old thatched cottage is about four minutes' walk from my mother's house. I used to pass it every day when walking to my primary school, though at that time it was (like most of Romsey) a lot shabbier than it is today. Someone's spent a lot of money here.

All the same, I do wish they hadn't put a sign outside declaring its name to be "Old Thatched Cottage" - with even (though you can't see it well in this picture) an etched drawing of the old thatched cottage itself under the words, in case you were in any doubt. I mean, it's a bit obvious, isn't it? They've even put the date it was built on the gateway, so that you can work out for yourself that, yes, it's old. And thatched. And a cottage.

At least there's not a sign reading "Polite Notice", though. That would tempt me to start heaving bricks.



Unrelatedly, here's something else I pass most days, this time in Bristol. I took this picture from the pavement of a busy road, looking into the allotments. I suppose this was once used by someone as a shed, though as you can see this part of the allotments is now seriously overgrown. But I wonder how many people passing it today realise its original purpose?

Comments

[colorwheel]

wait, are there signs in the world that say "polite notice?" what does it mean?

[steepholm]

I'm really not sure, but clearly I'm not the only one to find it annoying. It's hard to imagine anything more passive aggressive.

[colorwheel]

i find myself annoyed from afar. it's like, instead of saying, "please," they are bragging about their manners while giving you instructions. and while pointing out that a notice is a notice.

[lamentables]

As in the thing you linked to, I've always assumed it started with the hope that people would misread as 'Police Notice', and then just became a meme.

I cannot get my head around the Old Thatched Cottage. Maybe I should put up a '1970s House' sign. Made in orange melamine.

[steepholm]

Maybe I should put up a '1970s House' sign. Made in orange melamine.

If you ever do that (and you certainly should), please use this font for optimal grooviness.

[lamentables]

I promise.

[legionseagle]

It started (I believe) as a riff off the official sign "POLICE NOTICE" which is used when, for example, a particular entrance must not be obstructed because of emergency vehicle access and things like that (it is possible that the "POLICE NOTICE" usage has or is becoming obsolete and more specific "ACCESS REQUIRED; EMERGENCY VEHICLES" signs are replacing it). While it would be a criminal offence to forge an official sign and therefore get people obeying it for fear of legal consequences, "POLITE NOTICE" is easy to mistake for "POLICE NOTICE" and so may lead to people deceiving themselves into obeying an authority the sign poster does not possess.

I suspect that the original use of POLITE NOTICE as a semi-scam has eroded and that people are doing it in all sorts of fonts and backgrounds, through habit.

[colorwheel]

ooooh, huh! that is interesting!

[steepholm]

So fraud must be added to the charge sheet, along with passive aggression and general obnoxiousness!

[legionseagle]

Yes; it's the sort of thing I recall my father drawing to my attention as amusingly cheeky, the first one or two we spotted (perhaps in the late 70s?) but where the amusement factor rapidly wore threadbare (like "KEEP CALM AND --"). Now, I suspect the usage has become self-perpetuating.

[legionseagle]

I can't help thinking that sign should read "Old Thatched Cottage [placeholder name]"

[jadelennox]

wait, what is the thing's original purpose?

[steepholm]

It's a relic of the War. Not doing badly, considering it's 75 years old.

[jadelennox]

oh, I wondered if that's what it was! My sister has one in her back garden but it doesn't look like that at all.

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

...It's Abbeyfield House, (to the) right (right)? As it (clearly) says, in front of Old Thatched House. I mean, to the side of. To distract the unwary!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Abbeyfield House is a house between Romsey Abbey and the secondary school playing field. We're very literal in these parts.

[robby.livejournal.com]

The person next door should put up a similar sign, reading "Newer Shingled House".

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

The only thing worse would be Ye Olde Thatched Cottage.

Although I suppose that's the kind of dumbassery that USANs commit. Like Pointe This and That, and Towne Home.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Ye Olde Thatched Cottage

You're right - they missed a trick there.

Somehow its actually being 600 years or so old makes it worse.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Or the handwritten sign I saw in Cambridge (Mass.) a couple of decades ago that announced the availability of Beerf and Alef, which when pronounced with the effs makes one sound terribly drunk. My husband and I have been referring to "beerf and alef" at intervals ever since.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

"Beerf!" LOL!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Why the Bristol tag?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Because the second picture was taken in Bristol. I should really have a Romsey tag too, of course.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I had somehow missed that detail!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Ah yes! Ye olde Andersone Sheltere.

Used to have one as a shed in a previous home.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Having wondered whether young people would recognize it I showed it to my daughter (not quite 17), and she said casually, "Oh yes, that's an air raid shelter, isn't it?"

So that's what they teach them in these schools.

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

Super-late comment, but as corroboratory evidence I finally got round to showing the picture to El (just turned 10) and he immediately responded "bomb shelter."

World War II is certainly on the primary school syllabus, though El hasn't actually got round to that yet, so it's seeped into his store of knowledge somehow (possibly in part courtesy of having Bletchley Park as a local museum, or perhaps the start of the film of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.)

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

My, that's beautifully groomed thatch. And a very silly Polite Notice.

Aging Tin Shelter?

Nine

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Aging Tin Shelter?

They don't make 'em like they used to.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

There's that phrase "aging in place." That's an Aging Tin Place.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

The temptation would be to label everything in the vicinity... "Telegraph pole", "Bollard", etc.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I've put in an order for my "Pernickety Bugger" T-shirt already.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

Interesting Ironic Comment.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Of course here in Wales it would probably be called Ty Newydd (New House), just to boggle people. The oldest house in a village is often called Ty Newydd because it was the first new house built in that spot and the rest gathered around it. Like Bont Newydd (New Bridge) is usually a very old stone bridge built to replace the original ford. :)

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

Lovely.
In Mordor, anything named 'Neustadt' usually came by its name in a similarly dishonest fashion. I cry fake.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Surely somewhere there must exist a person named Neville Newton. Neville Newton Neustadt would be pushing it, though.

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

On these slippery as may be grounds, I'd like to friend you if I E.-may? Both of yer, I mean. Being a poor lonesome emigrated refugee from (the) above (mentioned place; free guess as to which one tip: look eastward).

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

You're quite welcome, though I don't actually blog myself.

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

Thank you, so I will for the sheer pleasure of having you. My well-known stamina when it comes to important issues such as silliness, comes with the package, anyone interested in anything else will have to scratch hard but usually people are quite content with face value (as demonstrated above) so that's what my blog offers; at the moment being. Always in a Customer friendly sense, off course!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

And just four miles from Romsey lies that upstart hunting ground known as the New Forest.

Do you know by the way whether Newport was called that to distinguish it from Caerleon? It's something I've occasionally wondered but not looked into properly.