Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for July 21, 2011

Bring them over and show them, boys.

They could do historical re-enactments, if they knew what they were re-enacting.

Sadly there are lots of perfectly legible historical markers to which that conclusion also applies. “No one knows what it’s for.” Sure, the marker says something, but it is something of no impact or significance beyond the next street corner. My Dad (and Mom) stopped at any number of such markers when we were on long road-trip vacations, way back when….

Your dads may know what the original markers were for.

The modern grammatical treatment would be “It’s an historical marker”. This morning’s nitpicking brought to you by WaitingMan Industries.

I also enjoyed the Burma Shave signs. My brothers, sisters, and I never missed reading one on our trip from Monterey, California to Fort Dix, New Jersey. This was way back in 1956.

“On this spot on May 5, 1973, Sally Jean Smith whacked her husband Clyde over the head with a frying pan after catching him with that blonde bimbo down at Elmo’s.”

My first impulse was that it is a speed control sign or a “No Parking”, but I also remember the sets of Burma Shave signs. I believe I saw a site with a large collection of them a few years ago. Sadly, they no longer fit our modern world. Advertizers think they must be sassy to the point of being offensive.

you are living to too close to the limits of sanity if a mere grammatical statement “drives you crazy”. thank god canadians don’t carry handguns.

mind you now that we know that the demographic for this comic is >70 years old (burma shave fans) maybe it is dementia not “crazy”.

My vote is it said “Keep Off Grass” at some point. As for illegible, can any of the kids besides Petey read? He might be able to tell them all what it really says.

WaitingMan, Muzition, Glenardis, and any others: The traditional rule is that if the h- is sounded, then ‘a’ is the proper form. The venerated language authority H.W. Fowler, in the England of 1926, advocated ‘a’ before historic, historical, and humble. Brought to you by ‘I fell into the dictionary and I can’t get out’ T.Lexi : )

“AN historical marker…?”

No more buttered scones for me, mater, I’m off to play the grand piano.

“I require an harmonica.”

Hawkeye Pierce (pretending to be Charles)

A historical marker for the first historical marker. How very meta of you.

A few years back “Reminisce” magazine revived the old Burma Shave style signs. They erected one set each in all 50 states. The campaign to get it done was organized by the magazine and people would nominate their town to be the host of the signs. I hope they are still being maintained.

I have a copy of “The Verse By the Side of the Road” which is the story of the Burma Shave signs and a complete list of all the verses. Some of them were hilarious and some were safety messages, pure advertising and topical messages (like the end of WWII).

I gave my parents an impressive brass plaque that read: On This Site in 1852 Nothing Happened.

On this spot, on March 12, 1735, absolutely nothing happened.

“thank god canadians don’t carry handguns.” That’s thank god canadians don’t carry handguns, eh.

=v= There’s a plaque like this in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, though the plaque it commemorates is slightly readable.