Cryptic word messages on traffic signs

[roadfro]

Such a sign really shouldn't exist. Warning signs are advisory in nature, and nothing about them is meant to be "obeyed"...that's what regulatory signs are for.

[Big John]

Don't apply it in Delaware or you will get a Slumdog Millionaire situation: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Delaware_W21-15-DE.svg&page=1 

[StogieGuy7]

How's this for cryptic (to an out of towner): http://maps.google.com/maps?q=milwaukee,+wi&hl=en&ll=43.04319,-88.03421&spn=0.000562,0.000603&sll=41.701756,-72.700138&sspn=0.103942,0.154324&t=h&hnear=Milwaukee,+Wisconsin&z=21&layer=c&cbll=43.04319,-88.03421&panoid=RGlnDyJrCGm2pEg_9fNi8g&cbp=12,331.61,,0,0.3

"Watertown Plk Rd"?  Watertown Plick Road?  Plack?  Plake?  It's Plank.  Obviously.   

[Special K]

Texas has these; maybe other states do too.
If it's just a warning, then exactly what am I supposed to obey?

For example, if I see this warning sign, what am I required to bump?

Or, if I see this warning sign, am I required to get out and start walking along the road?

How about this warning sign?  Should I keep tobacco in my car just in case?

And how on earth am I supposed to obey this warning sign?

Enquiring minds want to know.....

Warning signs do not require a certain action, only alert the motorists to the special condition ahead.  It's up to the driver to decide how to react to the condition.

[mgk920]

How's this for cryptic (to an out of towner): http://maps.google.com/maps?q=milwaukee,+wi&hl=en&ll=43.04319,-88.03421&spn=0.000562,0.000603&sll=41.701756,-72.700138&sspn=0.103942,0.154324&t=h&hnear=Milwaukee,+Wisconsin&z=21&layer=c&cbll=43.04319,-88.03421&panoid=RGlnDyJrCGm2pEg_9fNi8g&cbp=12,331.61,,0,0.3

"Watertown Plk Rd"?  Watertown Plick Road?  Plack?  Plake?  It's Plank.  Obviously.   

The one that had me scratching my head most of the way back home was during a roadtrip out east a few years back - "Del Water Gap" on westbound I-80 in New Jersey.  "Pennsylvania" would be so much clearer and better, IMHO.

Mike

[StogieGuy7]

How's this for cryptic (to an out of towner): http://maps.google.com/maps?q=milwaukee,+wi&hl=en&ll=43.04319,-88.03421&spn=0.000562,0.000603&sll=41.701756,-72.700138&sspn=0.103942,0.154324&t=h&hnear=Milwaukee,+Wisconsin&z=21&layer=c&cbll=43.04319,-88.03421&panoid=RGlnDyJrCGm2pEg_9fNi8g&cbp=12,331.61,,0,0.3

"Watertown Plk Rd"?  Watertown Plick Road?  Plack?  Plake?  It's Plank.  Obviously.   

The one that had me scratching my head most of the way back home was during a roadtrip out east a few years back - "Del Water Gap" on westbound I-80 in New Jersey.  "Pennsylvania" would be so much clearer and better, IMHO.

Mike

Delaware Water Gap is named for it's position at a "gap" where the Delaware River passes through a mountain range.  The Delaware River forms the western boundary of New Jersey, so renaming it for PA would make about as much sense as renaming the lake east of Wisconsin as Lake Illinois. 

[vtk]

Get out your Rand McNally and turn to the page that shows the whole lower 48 states.  Delaware Water Gap is not a place that appears on it.  I don't think it's even labelled as such on the PA or NJ pages.  Most folks from the Midwest don't know what this thing is.  It may be an important regional landmark for people in the Northeast, but it has very poor recognition elsewhere.  Guide signs exist to help non-locals, especially destination messages.  "Del Water Gap" is insufficient.

[StogieGuy7]

Get out your Rand McNally and turn to the page that shows the whole lower 48 states.  Delaware Water Gap is not a place that appears on it.  I don't think it's even labelled as such on the PA or NJ pages.  Most folks from the Midwest don't know what this thing is.  It may be an important regional landmark for people in the Northeast, but it has very poor recognition elsewhere.  Guide signs exist to help non-locals, especially destination messages.  "Del Water Gap" is insufficient.

It is most certainly there, basically being the closest community to the river (and border): http://maps.google.com/?ll=40.970437,-75.148029&spn=0.105634,0.154324&t=h&z=13

From what I can tell, most northeasterners know where it is.  That said, Stroudsburg would probably be a better destination to cite.  BTW: Rand McNally ain't what it used to be.....   

It still makes more sense than "Watertown Plk Rd"!

[empirestate]

How's this for cryptic (to an out of towner): http://maps.google.com/maps?q=milwaukee,+wi&hl=en&ll=43.04319,-88.03421&spn=0.000562,0.000603&sll=41.701756,-72.700138&sspn=0.103942,0.154324&t=h&hnear=Milwaukee,+Wisconsin&z=21&layer=c&cbll=43.04319,-88.03421&panoid=RGlnDyJrCGm2pEg_9fNi8g&cbp=12,331.61,,0,0.3

"Watertown Plk Rd"?  Watertown Plick Road?  Plack?  Plake?  It's Plank.  Obviously.   

When I was living in Boston, I remember trying to find my way to a restaurant whose address I only knew from the White Pages (that's a telephone book, see). It was located on "Rev Bch Pkwy"...I had figured out "reverend" and "parkway", but I don't want to say out loud what I kept going to for the middle word. 

(p.s., it's "Revere Beach Parkway", actually...)

[deathtopumpkins]

On the subject of confusing abbrevations... I grew up right off East Little Back River Road (or as we locals called it, East Little Back) in Hampton, VA, and all the signs read either "E L Back River Rd" or "E L Back R Rd". I still don't quite understand what the Little refers to, since the Back River splits into a Northwest and a Southeast Branch, and I've never seen "Little Back River" on anything other than those street signs, but hey. Also, I think the East is a little bit unnecessary since it is virtually the only road in the area that uses a directional prefix, and West Little Back River Rd is a 1-block long residential street, while East Little Back River Rd is a significant arterial.

[Central Avenue]

Isn't E. L. Backriver the author of Fifty Shades of Grey?

[BiggieJohn]

Milwaukee has Kinnickinnic Ave.
Since no one can actually spell that, much less pronounce it, the street is commonly called KK Ave.

Even the US post office for that area recognizes KK Ave as a valid street name.

Signs have the full name spelled out, but since so many people call it KK Ave, people from outside the area get very confused when they cant find a hwy KK in the middle of Milwaukee county.

[1995hoo]

Too bad it isn't "Kinnickinnickinnic Avenue."

[hbelkins]

There is a small community called Kinniconick in Lewis County, Ky. The stream that runs through there is called Kinniconick Creek. I have also seen the place name Kinnikinick elsewhere.

Regarding abbreviations. Del Water Gap is no more out of place than Del Mem Br.

Signage along US 33/119 in West Virginia makes reference to "Bkn. Mountain Road." It wasn't until I saw a smaller sign on that road designating it as "Buckhannon Mountain Road" that I knew what it meant.

"Buckhannon Mtn. Road" would be more informative and better for travelers. "Bkn. Mountain" made me wonder if it was anything like Brokeback Mountain. 

[1995hoo]

To me "Bkn." would have suggested either "Broken" or "Brooklyn."

[J N Winkler]

Brooklyn = Bklyn

(That was a favorite Randy Hersh abbreviation, BTW.)

[cpzilliacus]

To me "Bkn." would have suggested either "Broken" or "Brooklyn."

I seem to recall that there were signs on I-895 (Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway) Southbound south of the toll plaza that once read "Bkln" or "Bklyn" or maybe "Bklyn Park" at the exit for Shell Road/Frankfurst Avenue (Exit 8 today) or maybe at Md. 2 (Potee Street) (Exit 7 today). 

The southern tip of Baltimore City is known as Brooklyn, and the adjoining northern part of Anne Arundel County is unincorporated Brooklyn Park.

[1995hoo]

Brooklyn = Bklyn

(That was a favorite Randy Hersh abbreviation, BTW.)

Usually that's the abbreviation (I've seen "B'klyn" as well), but I've seen the occasional sports-statistic tables that refer to the Brooklyn Dodgers as BKN (just as the Cubs would be CHC, the Tigers as DET, etc.). That's probably why "Brooklyn" would be one of the things I'd think of if I saw the sign in question.

[Special K]

Whenever I'm in Kansas City and see "Trfwy" on a guide sign, I imagine a road with grass growing on it.

[StogieGuy7]

Whenever I'm in Kansas City and see "Trfwy" on a guide sign, I imagine a road with grass growing on it.

Turfway?  That's really the only thing that I imagine that being. 

Holy Wimbledon Batman! 

[Big John]

Whenever I'm in Kansas City and see "Trfwy" on a guide sign, I imagine a road with grass growing on it.

Turfway?  That's really the only thing that I imagine that being. 

Holy Wimbledon Batman! 

Trafficway?

[theline]

Whenever I'm in Kansas City and see "Trfwy" on a guide sign, I imagine a road with grass growing on it.

Turfway?  That's really the only thing that I imagine that being. 

Holy Wimbledon Batman! 

Trafficway?

Trafficway is correct. At least that's what the locals called it, while I was there last summer.

[1995hoo]

What the heck is a "Trafficway"?

[NE2]

A way for traffic.

[1995hoo]

A way for traffic.

So if they have multiple ones, they can call them "The Ways" and users have to avoid Machin Shin?