View from the Back
Ramblings of a retiree in France
Things in Australia that made me smile: Aussie Signs
I have yet to finish mining our trip Down Under!
Road Signs
Although we didn’t drive as much this time as on our last trip to Australia, the roadside messages still amused me. Australians think nothing of driving long distances and those roads can be soporific. To keep drivers on their toes, signs wisely exhort you to stop every two hours or to pull over and take a nap if you’re feeling sleepy. But they mix it up all the time and I love their ingenuity.
You’ll see plenty of this sign, white letters underlined on a red background, which surely must strike fear into anyone reading it.
Wrong way, go back!
- Cut your speed, don’t make a grave mistake (accompanied by picture of a headstone)
- Sore eyes? Powernap now!
- A 15 minute powernap could save your life
- Open your eyes fatigue kills
- Droopy eyes? Powernap now!
- Yawning? A microsleep can kill!
- Don’t sleep and drive.
- Open your eyes fatigue kills.
- Drowsy drivers die.
- Stop. Revive. Survive.
- Survive this drive.
- Fatigue is fatal.
- Only sleep cures fatigue.
- Vicroads ask passengers to share the driving.
In that last sign it rather assumes that the passengers all have driving licences!
But it’s not just road signs that bring a smile to my face. Traffic lights exhort you to “Give Way to PEDS”, short for pedestrians, not performance enhancing drugs.
Entertainment and Shop Signs
Last year I wondered what the hell are or is “Pokies,” they’re everywhere in Australia. I looked them up on Google which provides two explanations. In this case, the signs refer to Poker machines. Of course, I should have guessed with the Aussie love of abbreviating words and then making them end in “ies” such as Barbies, tinnies and so on and so forth. But how was a girl to know? While the signs are everywhere, I’ve yet to see one of the machines. Or maybe I have and assumed it was a cigarette vending machine?
Tattoos are very popular in Australia and there’s plenty of tattoo parlours. So when I kept seeing signs for “Tatts” I assumed it was shorthand for tattoos but no, it’s the name of the Australian Lottery.
Australians also like to display their sense of humour with signs such as these:-
Now you can understand my concern about sharks and why I won’t swim in Australian waters.
Haha, this post made me laugh. Who knew even within the English language, things could be so different!
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Indeed! Some of the Australian words are easy to guess but what about snags? Those are sausages!
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Who knew?! I would have been so confused!
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Quirky and fun post. The road signs get me! In the Himachal region in India, the Border Road Organisation put up signs that go thus: “Do not me nag me as I am driving/ Instead turn your head/ And enjoy the nature, charming.” Or, “Darling I want you/ But not so fast.”
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I’ve never visited India but it sounds as if the road signs are in a similar vein. That’s one of the wonderful things about travelling, you see things that are different from your normal everyday and many are charming, quirky and very much of their place.
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Very interesting post! Love reading signs. 🙂
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Thanks
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