Which clip art catastrophe raises the most new and troubling questions in your mind?
Is it exhibit a, from New York’s West Village?
(Think about the designer’s thought process here for a moment. Why the sunglasses? And not just any shades…but electric blue? Ditto, the sunflower.)
Exhibit b, From a casino in Cambodia?
(Does no crossed out mean…yes?)
Or exhibit c, from a pharmacy in Berlin?
(Trust me: speaking German is no help here.)
If you can’t decide, remember that your first instinct is usually the best choice (um, except when it’s not).
related: clip art crimes
120 responses so far ↓
#1
Quite Contrary
Please please please. No more clip art!
May 6, 2008 at 9:13 pm rating: 0
#2
Sarah
No pasty people in boxing gloves and swimsuits mooning people? What?
May 6, 2008 at 9:15 pm rating: 0
#3
Wade
I am most troubled by the cat upkilting the scottish terrier.
May 6, 2008 at 9:19 pm rating: 4
#4
Canthz_B
No shooting dogs and cats?
No ice-skating backwards?
May 6, 2008 at 9:21 pm rating: 0
#5
zchamu
No shooting cameras? WTF?
I think the dog just came from a 3D movie.
May 6, 2008 at 9:21 pm rating: 1
#6
RunBarbara
No Arabs.
No dancing Black business men.
No aerobics instructors.
No dogs in 3D movie glasses.
May 6, 2008 at 9:24 pm rating: 1
#7
Wade
Really?
Ramadan vitamins?
wow.
May 6, 2008 at 9:24 pm rating: 1
#8
Canthz_B
The sign by the West Village Idiot would have made more sense had she actually planted flowers. I can’t really blame her though, after all, a tree grows in Brooklyn!
May 6, 2008 at 9:25 pm rating: 0
#9
RunBarbara
Please don’t let your dogs attend Captain Eo.
May 6, 2008 at 9:27 pm rating: 3
#10
Wade
I like how the bulldog smoked a blunt, and left a burn mark.
May 6, 2008 at 9:31 pm rating: 1
#11
Canthz_B
So a sheik who attends Mosque becomes a time-obsessed Western businessman?
May 6, 2008 at 9:33 pm rating: 0
#12
Canthz_B
I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my tree.
Go and piss on your own tree, leave mine alone.
All of that clip-art for a half bag of mulch.
May 6, 2008 at 9:46 pm rating: 0
#13
anglophile
I didn’t know Richard Simmons celebrated Ramadan.
May 6, 2008 at 9:48 pm rating: 1
#14
Canthz_B
Only in Manhattan is the tree at the curb claimed as “front yard” territory.
May 6, 2008 at 9:57 pm rating: 0
#15
secondsout
I guess it’s ok if you skate forwards, just no backwards skating.
May 6, 2008 at 9:57 pm rating: 0
#16
secondsout
What they’re not telling you is that the mulch in exhibit A is from ground-up dogs.
May 6, 2008 at 9:59 pm rating: 0
#17
secondsout
Holy shit, where can I get one of those awesome sweatshirts? It’s mostly green, but then the sleeve is pink, from the diagonal stripe. I’ll be unable to fend off all the hot girls!
Wait, you’re telling me I’d look like a douchebag? Aww, man…
May 6, 2008 at 10:03 pm rating: 1
#18
anglophile
The pedant in me is having a hard time with the mix of tulips and sunflowers blooming at the same time on Sign #1. I hate it when people mix up the seasons!
May 6, 2008 at 10:08 pm rating: 4
#19
Naomi
C, definitely. They actually took time to make the sign.
May 6, 2008 at 10:49 pm rating: 0
#20
Mishee
Damn! I have to go back to the car and stash my Glock before we go gamble! Good thing I can at least still bring my C-4 in with me, cause I don’t know what I would do without it!
May 6, 2008 at 11:12 pm rating: 4
#21
Lorrie
Double negatives make my head explode.
May 6, 2008 at 11:35 pm rating: 0
#22
Annika
Someone’s been listening to Malcolm Gladwell!
May 7, 2008 at 12:14 am rating: 0
#23
César
The Second One
May 7, 2008 at 12:18 am rating: 1
#24
amazon
Because a gaudy, clip-art-laden sign looks MUCH better than the occasional dog doo-doo.
May 7, 2008 at 12:41 am rating: 1
#25
Canthz_B
Just still can’t figure out why they didn’t buy a “Curb Your Dog” sign while they were at Home Depot picking-up the wood chips and border fence.
May 7, 2008 at 1:18 am rating: 2
#26
Canthz_B
I hated pumping iron. Good to know I only need to pump scrolls from now on.
May 7, 2008 at 1:25 am rating: 0
#27
aflirtycatastrophe
Oh god… I can’t speak clip art!
Does this mean I’m going to have to hire a translator that has been trained in the art of speaking in clip art?
I don’t know if I can afford a vacation anymore…
May 7, 2008 at 1:28 am rating: 0
#28
Canthz_B
ClipArt…When you care enough to give the very least!
May 7, 2008 at 1:37 am rating: 3
#29
katha
“Vitame sind jetzt wichtig. Wirken 24 Stunden” —
Vitamins are important at this time. Effective for 24 hours”
And yeah, doesn’t make sense at all.
May 7, 2008 at 2:06 am rating: 0
#30
zombieBlanco
please please please
no poop near our trees
no no yes
pets shooting up my dress
jetzt jetzt jetzt
our vitamins you must gets
May 7, 2008 at 2:36 am rating: 1
#31
mike
I see what you did there.
May 7, 2008 at 5:37 am rating: 1
#32
roockle
I appreciate the reference the title is making. I also agree that these all oscillate between bafflement and (albeit vague) understandability.
May 7, 2008 at 6:47 am rating: 1
#33
Tyler
The first thing that came to mind with the dog, was the friend of Biff from 1955 in Back to the Future that wore the 3d looking glasses. So is this a 1955 dog?
May 7, 2008 at 7:31 am rating: 0
#34
claw71
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Apollo Theater is proud to present a living legend: the Godfather of Soul; the true King of Rock and Roll….James Brown!
Please, please, please, please me (don’t let your dog go)
Baby please, baby please, please me (don’t let your dog go)
Baby please, baby please, please don’t go (don’t let your dog go)
Don’t go, I said baby don’t go
Your dog I say no (don’t let your dog go)
Baby, you know I stepped in poop the other day
I said, I said, I said I’ll post a sign out on the way
I said baby, baby please don’t go (don’t let your dog go)
Don’t go , no baby, no baby I have to say no (don’t let your dog go)
Wipe this poop from my shoe.
Please, PLEASE, PLEASE
May 7, 2008 at 8:36 am rating: 1
#35
Aimee
My first choice was a, but then I studied b and came up with way more questions: 1) At first glance I couldn’t tell what the woman was doing in the second picture, then I realized she was rollerblading. Who would rollerblade through a Casino? 2) No crossed out would be a double negative, right? 3)Don’t two negatives cancel each other out? 4) Does that mean that people can’t say ‘no’ in that casino? Yeah. I’m going with b.
May 7, 2008 at 8:50 am rating: 1
#36
unholyghost2003
my favorite bits about sign(s) 2 are:
1. Hand guns, cats, dogs, and cameras of various types while possibly prohibited are of small enough concern that they are all mixed together on one sign, BUT rollerblading backwards without proper safety equipment is such an OVERWHELMING problem it gets its own clearly marked sign.
2. I am forced to wonder, with the possible camera prohibition did our submitter snap this pic of the signs shortly before s/he was wrestled to the ground and had his/her camera confiscated to be returned at such time s/he lost every penny to the casino and might want something to hock?
May 7, 2008 at 8:54 am rating: 1
#37
claw71
If you look more closely at the casino sign you’ll notice that “no” is prohibited. Apparently this is a very libertarian establishment where everyhting else is fine and dandy.
I guess some people took it too far so the manager had to post a note reminding women that urinating on the floor is no longer an option.
May 7, 2008 at 9:16 am rating: 0
#38
GhostWriter
Haven’t you seen Men In Black? That’s no dog- he’s a Remoolian!
May 7, 2008 at 10:13 am rating: 0
#39
kendra
thank god you all figured out that the girl was rollerblading. i was incredibly disappointed about my upcoming cambodia casino trip when i thought they were outlawing puddle jumping…
May 7, 2008 at 4:30 pm rating: 1
#40
sarah
yess the title is a reference to this american life!
May 7, 2008 at 4:47 pm rating: 1
#41
saundra
well, speaking german helps a -little-.
May 7, 2008 at 7:45 pm rating: 0
#42
Jinx
I so want to bring any other type of dog to the Casino in sign B. Just because the sign is so anti Scottie. Why Scotties? I doubt anyone in Cambodia has a Scottie. (Do they even have dogs as pets there? Call me racist, but that would be like a sign in America saying no Chickens allowed.)
May 7, 2008 at 9:41 pm rating: 0
#43
Jane
Wha?
Where’s the connection to Malcolm Gladwell’s Moth story?
May 7, 2008 at 10:18 pm rating: 0
#44
Seanie
OK the bottom one is a very funny pic for sure
Speaking Turkish German does help in decoding this however
It’s advising that during RAMADAN when observant muslims fast during daylight hours, Vitamins are extra crucial
; o )
May 8, 2008 at 3:49 pm rating: 0
#45
Mustang Sally
“No pooping on the ice-skating rink.”
May 8, 2008 at 4:36 pm rating: 0
#46
Shay
Well…if you speak German and know what happens during Ramadan, you can put two and two together and come up with something in the neighborhood of four….but I’m not smart enough to figure out why the girl in pink boots is banned in Cambodia. Unless it’s because she’s been wading in toxic waste and that’s why they’re melting off her feet?
The bulldog sign is just cute. ANYTHING with bulldogs on it is cute.
May 8, 2008 at 9:01 pm rating: 0
#47
TALover
ok malcolm
May 9, 2008 at 6:22 pm rating: 0
#48
Jo
I hate to think how big turds would be if they were left by a bulldog that’s bigger than a fully-grown sunflower.
May 10, 2008 at 3:07 am rating: 0
#49
niki
no roller derby!?!?!?!?
oh the humanity.
Dec 10, 2008 at 5:36 pm rating: 0
#50
weight lifting workout
Weight Lifting for Beginners isn’t hard but….
Weight lifting for beginners program is but it is demanding, when you start a you need to have one thing straight, this is not going to be a walk on the park, this is nothing easy, nor these are vacation,
Mar 10, 2009 at 8:03 am rating: 0
#51
Muhammad
soulofaqua, wat do u mean “overrun” by muslims? are we some kind of pest or infestation now??? wtf
Oct 15, 2009 at 3:13 pm rating: 0
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