ivman's blague

Sometimes my blog posts of signs have a unifying theme, but today's signs are just random — some that readers have sent me and some that I've run across on the web.

I'm fairly sure that this business meant that only senior citizens would be eligible for the special price, but the sign just doesn't read that way.

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If you've traveled overseas, especially in Europe, you are probably familiar with the abbreviation WC in public places. The letters stand for water closet (toilet). In Germany I was surprised to see that in some places they use the abbreviation 00 (double zero, or Null-Null in German, Null rhyming with pool). I read somewhere that it began in hotels with numbered rooms — the idea being that 00 would not be confused for a sleeping room. My mind always saw it as the letter "O" twice and I would think "uh-oh!"

Today's iv is the result of subject matters in two of my French classes this week. We just learned about the letter combination WC in my second semester French class yesterday. The initials WC always make me think of a classic bit of humor I first heard as a high schooler. When I asked my class if they had ever heard the story about the Wayside Chapel, I was surprised that only 2 of the 25 students admitted to having heard it before.

In my 17th Century French Literature class we are reading L'Avare (The Miser) by Molière. Some of Molière's comedy is based on quiproquo (from the Latin quid pro quod = something for something, the idea of one thing for another thing) in which a misunderstanding is caused by each person's talking about one thing while the other person is understanding something else. The result can be quite funny, as in today's blog post.
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This past week, in an assembly of all the university students and faculty, an administrator explained changes forthcoming in the basic core courses that all of our students must take at BJU. One of the new courses that will be required for graduation is Foundations of Economics. With all the difficulties people in today's world are having with debt, this should be a great course to give our young people information that could help them avoid personal financial disaster.

I find the world's economy far more mystifying than personal finances. The following picture from despair.com almost makes sense to me.

Today I'm posting some cartoons, informative pictures, and funny pictures on the subject of economics and the economy.
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When I did a blog post on bridges two and a half years ago, I learned that there are a lot of people who like bridges, and a few who don't. This week I received an e-mail about bridges from a long-time friend and thought it would make a neat blog post. (Thanks, Dallas!) As I fact-checked the information in the e-mail, I was shocked to find pictures of every one of the seven bridges called by the names of almost every one of the other bridges in the e-mail! As best as I can determine, what I'm posting today is accurate. If not, please let me know ... just be sure that your sources are more reliable than some of the sites I saw! Ah, the bane and blessing of the Internet!

Kintai Bridge, Iwakuni, Japan

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Life consists of a series of open doors and closed doors. That's one of the ways the Lord clearly leads us to our next stage in life. As I deal with students who are at the point of life where they are testing doors to see which will open for them, I love to remind them that a closed door is every bit as good as an open door — it prevents them from going where they aren't meant to go. I'm amazed that some people are eager to try to pry open doors that the Lord has closed — it seems to me as though it may just be asking for trouble. Lord, please keep the doors that are wrong for me closed!

Lately I've come across some door signs that are amusing or perplexing, and I share them with you today. Some times it helps not to be gifted so that you can read clear Pull or Push signs on a door, as in this classic Far Side cartoon.

I can't believe how many times I've done the same thing. Maybe I'm more gifted than I thought...? Probably not.
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