Sunday, April 29, 2012

Well done. Thank you.

What's the opposite of my curmudgeonly "Bah, humbug"?    Maybe:  "Well done, thank you."  Whatever . . . that's what I want to say to whomever changed that sign.

Some years ago, road signs began showing up all over that said "Limited Sight Distance."  It seemed there had been some system-wide decision to adopt this language as the official road sign for areas where a hill or a curve obscured driveways or crossings and made it hard to know what's ahead -- or for, say, people backing out of blind driveways to know you were coming.  So there was a reasonable need for caution.

I knew what the signs meant:  Be careful because you can't see ahead, and they can't see you coming.  But the wording was so cumbersome that I would get distracted trying to parse that phrase:  what does "limited sight distance" actually mean?   I would forget the need for caution in my preoccupation with the awkward phrase.

Today, driving to the Whole Foods store, I passed one of those signs where there are concealed driveways just over the crest of a steep hill.   The "Limited Sight Distance" sign had been replaced.  It now says, simply:
"Hill Blocks View"
Now that's the way to communicate.  Well done, Somebody. 
Thank you.

Ralph

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