What are the signs?

We are living in a world filled with odd signs and symbols.  There are signs full of rules, signs with funny slogans or gags, clever sidewalk gags that get us to go into stores, signs that make us wonder what's going on, signs with errors on them.  As for symbols, there are many layers of iconography on buildings and signs and packages, sidewalks and pavement: hazard symbols, traffic and vehicle symbols, children's chalk drawings which draw from an odd shared heritage, weird stickers that show up at drive-thru windows, doodles, industrial icons.  The only real difference in that signs say things in words, and symbols are their own statement, and of course, signs with symbols are right in the middle.

I can't possibly create a separate blog for every tiny sub-topic here.  It wouldn't make sense to have one blog for signs that I thought were funny at the time, and another one for discussing construction markings on the pavement.  They are all related in the stream of imagery that surround us, so I am going to put them together into one flow.  I am not interested in corporate logos or graffiti, but there are plenty of things that catch my eye or stop me in my tracks.

I plan to present these things for fun, but there is an underlying set of questions here.  Where do they come from.  What do they mean?  Do we even know anymore?

I think you will be fascinated by the variety of messages that bombard us each day.  Let's see what we can find out there...

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