Looking for a sign
- Started
- Last post
- 13 Responses
- Horp
A couple of years ago there was a public information sign that appeared on the internet and very possibly here on QBN. It was a sign that had been put up in India around the Taj Mahal. The point of the sign was to discourage the act of openly defecating in the street around tourist attractions such as the Taj Mahal.
I remember seeing the sign, and I remember there being a lot of discussion about it (I thought here on QBN). I have been googling my little fingers to the bone however and can't find any record of it.
Does anyone here recall the sign? From memory it had the silhouette of the palace, then picked out of that there was a pictogram of a person squatting, and below them, a miniature Taj Mahal which was actually a turd.
Anyone?
Am I going mad? Am I having odd dreams?
- detritus0
what.
the.
hell.
are.
you.
working.
on.
??
- Horp0
Hahaha. I'm writing an article about signs and ambiguity. Inspired by a recent question I read, about why we still use a telephone handset to denote 'remote voice communication' and not a smartphone icon.
= )
- beautiful0
i remember. it was in blog or gs.
somebody of the regulars working on a thing for a charity that promoted clean water campaign.
- beautiful0
a poster i think.
- beautiful0
not an original street sign, yes?
- moniker0
I remember using it to portray shitting on someones chest in a mini PS battle.
- Fax_Benson0
I once shat on somebody's chest to explain an image I'd seen in a PS battle.
- beautiful0
I remember pointing out the designs´ strangeness of explicit profanity (turd) + national icon in the same graphic. I also remember suggesting to stress dead baby bodycount (due to cholera, etc.) in poster text, which wasn´t oncluded in the content. I remember remixed versions as well (s. moniker).
- Horp0
I'm glad others remember it. I thought I must be losing the plot. Oddly though, it seems to be nowhere on the internet. Maybe the Indian government decided it wasn't good publicity and have been quietly cleaning it off the internet. I hear about that sort of thing happening more and more now.
- Atkinson0
"The point of the sign was to discourage the act of openly defecating in the street around tourist attractions such as the Taj Mahal"
excellent!
Who's the article for, sounds great, I like stupidity / semiotics. I guess you've read visible signs - David Crow? It's kind of an intro but it's a decent book to mention in talks for further reading etc.- Good book... I need to pull it out and reread it.Amicus
- too much info - just read the book.Fax_Benson
- Horp0
Haven't read that book no but thanks for posting it... I will be reading it shortly!!
The article is for semionaut.com and possibly for hilowbrow also, if accepted, but its also forming the basis of a presentation I'm hoping to give at a semiotics and communication conference in November.