XKCD takes on highway policy
And don't miss the rollover text: "They actually started this reversed-text practice in 1977 -- not for ease-of-use reasons, but because too many people were driving backward down the highway blasting the Star Wars opening theme."
I love nerds.
By
Ezra Klein
|
August 18, 2010; 11:38 AM ET
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It also sounds like Yoda if you read it in the standard orientation.
Posted by: JasonFromSeattle | August 18, 2010 2:18 PM | Report abuse
anybody have verification of the 'because of Star Wars' reason?
My Snopes.com sense just screams it being a feel good hoax...
Posted by: rpixley220 | August 18, 2010 3:57 PM | Report abuse
I was once at a rest area on a freeway where some parking spots were labeled:
PARKING
POLICE
STATE
You can question the wisdom of backwards writing on the highway, but in parking spaces it's just absurd.
Posted by: HerooftheBeach | August 18, 2010 4:15 PM | Report abuse
rpixley, that's either disturbingly obtuse and/or sincere, or it's well played.
Hero, "State Police" strikes me as being one of those phrases where it's unwise to reverse the word order.
Posted by: WarrenTerra | August 18, 2010 4:36 PM | Report abuse
Visiting in Maine you see
AHD
STOP
which my brother used to think was someone writing "I'd Stop" with a Down East Accent.
Posted by: wah718 | August 19, 2010 6:24 PM | Report abuse
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