Categories
Best sign ever?
- Post author By Orac
- Post date March 30, 2010
- 31 Comments on Best sign ever?
- Tags psychic
By Orac
Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.
That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)
DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.
To contact Orac: [email protected]
View Archive →
31 replies on “Best sign ever?”
Somehow, I KNEW you were going to post that!!!
Always have someone check your French when you are not a native speaker. I think what they were angling for was “la petite mort,” a euphemism for “orgasm” more used in English than in French, but what they got was “the little corpse.”
@2:
Given that the phrase in question appears next to what appear to be three stylized coffins, “the little corpse” may have been intentional.
If there are three of them, it would be “les petits morts.” But it’s not impossible.
Down the street the foreskin fair was cancelled due to unforeseen circumcisions.
‘”…but what they got was “the little corpse.”‘
I thought that would be “le petit cadavre.”
@4 Well, the comments at Orac’s source indicate the sign is from Atlanta, and a bit of google-foo finds this: http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/UrbanExplorer/HotSpot?oid=oid%3A446564
Hopefully the sign above the store with only a single coffin satisfies your inner L’Academie Francaise.
On a similar note, from the Astrological Magazine:
“We regret to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the publication of The Astrological Magazine will cease with the December 2007 issue.”
I blogged on this back in 2008. I initially thought it to be an urban legend, but checked their website, it seemed legit.
Awesome!
Very Far Side.
-r.c.
“Le mort” means dead man, dead person or dead body, depending on context. The store’s URL is “little female corpse,” which still leaves me wondering if they meant “la mort.” But the store seems to sell goth gear, including erotica, so maybe instead of bad French it is sophisticated French wordplay that leaves goths rolling in the aisles.
http://www.petitemorte.com/
Ah, but if they’d put up a sign saying psychic fair cancelled due to foreseen circumstances, then the police or somebody would be after them for taking in advance bookings in the full knowledge it wasn’t going to happen.
Ornage Lantern, shouldn’t that be unforeskin circumstances?
no, it’s unforeskin circumcisions.. Which, i suppose is redundant as well as repetitive..
@RobNYNY1957 — I vote either wordplay or simple alternative to “petit mort”, as that domain name appears to have been parked on.
@Dave #7
And located in Little Five Points, no less, probably the major hub of all things alt in ATL.
Ya’ll drop in fer all yer Goth gear! Ya hear?
That reminds me of way back when I worked for a newspaper, sometimes filling on the desk. Every time a local psychic group announced a meeting, which we ran in little fillers, I wanted to headline it “Psychic group predicts meeting”. But they wouldn’t let me.
Maybe the owner’s name is Mortimer, and he’s short.
Now that is very cool. It will take them a while to live that one down.
It’s priceless!
I assume everyone’s already linked you to Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1836#comic
That was good for a coffee sinus wash.
But isn’t it legally risky (i.e. like malpractice) for these particular professionals to admit unforseen circumstances?
In Kitchener, Ontario, there was a psychic named Gina (in the mid- to late-80s). She used to have a big advertising sign outside her shop saying, Gina Physic. It stayed there for many a month. Maybe she doubled as an aerobic instructor? 🙂
–dan
Very funny sign…BTW, speaking of the french term on the sign, in French an orgasm is called “Le petit mort” or the little death.
Oh my goodness this cracked me up…love me some good irony 😉
Without having any great french linguistics skills I’m pretty sure it is saying “The little death” refering to an orgasm
@chainman & PW Hendon: Did either of you even read the earlier posts regarding the French language usage, or do you both just write comments with utter disregard for the entire human race going on around you? Oblivious, meet Clueless. Clueless, Oblivious. Now go take these earplugs and blindfolds and go play in the street or something. Have fun you two!
I thought ‘le petit mort’ wasn’t the orgasm itself, but the period of collapse/exhaustion just afterwards – the little death – from which one hopefully quickly recovered.
@Dude: Unfortunately chainman and PW Hendon will never read your scolding.
ROTFPMFHOL!
Classic 🙂