What's the most clever thing you have seen de-faced

What's the most clever thing you have seen de-faced, misrepresented, or placed in the wrong spot as a joke, or not. And were you the culpret?
(Like an old oven placed under an open range sign...along a roadside for example)

When I was in school I used to enjoy whiting out the last "T" at the end of "Wet Paint" signs.

I also had a sticker that said "and his Orchestra" and I'd put it on signs that said "Lavase Los Manos".

My girlfriend at the time liked to wear "Hi! My name is..." stickers and she'd write in Violencia Domestica. She even had an old resturaunt name badge with that engraved on it.

Did I read the topic right?

If not, I'm officially embarrassed now.

I was standing at a counter at an Oil Changers for a while, and then I noticed that their boring "we ensure that all our employee are drug free blah blah" sign (not its exact wording) had certain words and letters colored in with blue ink that read:
"We all do drugs here"

STOP FOR ME, IT'S THE CLAW!

These signs:

are all over Seattle, and many of them are defaced as above.

I was at a Halloween party once where someone just attached a large black simple claw at the end of one of his arms, and everyone knew exactly what he was supposed to be. One of my favorite Halloween costumes ever.

I always get a laugh out of Slow Children at play.
I also think there is someone @ the hand Dryer company that is in charge of editing the instructions so it says.

1. Push Butt...
2. Rub hands under .arm
   3/ Wipe hands on pants.

It's usually on everyone I've seen.

[ Edited by: Turbogod on 2004-08-26 20:10 ]

I was in Vegas for business some 10 years ago or so, staying off the strip at Arizona Charlies (I think that was the name) and they had these wall sconces all down the hallways to the rooms. They had a rustic cabin type look with deer, moose and pine trees silhouette(sp?) I took out my brand new Sharpee Marker and added a penis to the Moose. We would come home heavily intoxicated and absolutely laughed our asses off every time we went passed it to go to our room. We woke a lot of people up in the wee small hours of the morning. But then again, its Vegas baby! Always double down on 11 Mikey.....

I wonder if it is still there?

There is also a green windmill sign off highway 101 - petaluma, CA that has one word per windmill prong and reads "At Its Best [,] Food."

I think it is supposed to read "food at its best" but I've always stayed away.

The B.P.O.E. tomb here of course has a huge bronze elk standing on top of it. It's in an outer corner of the cemetery right by a stoplight.
A few Christmases ago, I was stopped at the light and noticed that the elk had a red flashing nose. It was gone the next night, and has never reappeared, but it amused me no end.

A number of the "Deer Crossing" signs in Poway have little red reflectors on their noses...

The following happened in Columbus, OH, the same night that Combustible Edison played the Kahiki Restaurant.

Several of us (including musicians too) were staying up in a room of a nearby hotel. On one wall, above the tv was a generic abstract painting, that was soon bugging one of us .... so we decided to deface it.

We took the painting off the wall, and carefully unscrewed the back panel, removed the matting, etc, until the actual print was in front of us. One of the females had some lipstick that roughly matched one of the colors in the painting. We added the words 'HELP ME' in large letters (in a abstract font), and then carefully reassembled everything and hung it back on the wall.

The 'Help Me' text wasn't so obvious right away, and one walking quickly through the room would not really see it. But if some future hotel guest were lying there in bed, watching TV, their eyes would hopefully eventually drift to the painting, and they would then see the 'Help Me' message .... and who knows what thoughts they would have for the rest of the night.

Well, that's what we all hoped would happen .... I have a picture of the final painting somewhere.

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev on 2004-08-26 21:24 ]

The most clever thing I've seen defaced was my little Elvis! Damn Catholic religion!

Um...that's mandated in the Jewish faith, but it's optional for Catholics, as far as I know. You wuz robbed, Bong.

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. For a long time, in fact. I was robbed as well, and I'm at least 30 or 35 years younger than Bong, so I can testify that it was popular forever.

How about something clever, that was defaced to make it less clever? I submit the painting of the bow tie on to Tiki Bob.

On the 280 freeway in San Mateo there is a not very good statue of father Junipero Serra (I think). He is pointing across the freeway. Every so often there is a string tied around his finger (to remember) or a big yo-yo hanging from it. No I didn't do it, but I wished I had.

Humuhumu, that claw story is GREAT
Violencia Domestica...and his orchestra. made me laugh so hard, I woke my wife.

And I think the Father Serra hijinx (great word, three dotted letters in a row) is part of a Cal/Stanford freshman thing. I've seen him with a proctology comdom too.

A good friend of mine was dumpster diving at the end of a school year, and found one of those old paper signs used to teach 1st and 2nd graders how letters together make sounds we all know.

The one he kept and now has framed in his living room sez:

"UR"

chURch

bURn

hURt

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-08-27 00:42 ]

A hotel near my friends house had a big neon sign. It said, "Color TVs and Hot Pool!"
The letter "l" was burnt out of the word pool.

HOT POO!

...and with the quick slip of the "S" from the back to the front of the word "PERMS"
and we have a funny.

This sign stayed like this for nearly two weeks.

[ Edited by: FLOUNDERart on 2004-08-27 07:24 ]

I don't know if it counts as being defaced but i like the statue of the Duke of Wellington in glasgow that permanently has a traffic cone on its head.
It has become such a landmark that the statue and its cone have featured in tourist guidebooks. A few years ago, when Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley Tourist Board wanted photographs to launch their new Web site, they removed the cone. Immediately, the Lord Provost, Alex Mosson, expressed disappointment, saying that it highlighted the Glaswegian sense of humour. His predecessor, ex-Provost Pat Lally joined in and also agreed it should stay. The end result is that Wellington (and sometimes his horse too) can be seen sporting traffic cones! Not that anyone is suggesting that the Provost and ex-Provost were personally involved....

In the lobby of the main building of the engineering school at the University of Virginia (YouVeeAy), there was a detailed architects model of the school with buildings, cars, trees etc all in a nice glass display case. Well, one night, someone opened it and added a few items. Godzilla was attacking on the ground and King Kong had climbed one of the buildings. The Virginia National Guard, in the form of little green plastic army men, was doing its best to fight them with tanks etc.
The school actually left it for a few days and it was photographed and made the cover of an alumni publication.
The roof of the same building was decorated another time with a 6 foot tall inflatable Gumby who was not noticed at first.

Also, I do not know if this counts, but my wife actually graduated from UVA dressed as Gumby (Gumby head with black mortorboard cap pinned on and black gown.) I am not really sure why; but, the nurses carry helium filled rubber gloves, the aerosoace engineers put propellors on their caps so why not?

A movie theater marquee for "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" was changed to "Hey Kids, I Stink."

A few years ago, someone stuck "DRIVING" stickers on what seemed to be most of the stop signs in SF, so they read "STOP DRIVING."

A while back I saw a lot of McDonald's signs changed from "Big N Tasty" to "Big Nasty." I hate McDonalds, so I was deeply amused.

On 2004-08-26 20:59, purple jade wrote:
The B.P.O.E. tomb here of course has a huge bronze elk standing on top of it.
A few Christmases ago, I was stopped at the light and noticed that the elk had a red flashing nose.

I'll have to remember that one -- the Elks tomb in Oakland is somewhat similar.

Another Christmastime defacement: Every year someone adds the letter L to the Noe Street signs in SF. (Noel -- get it?)

The Bush Street signs in SF are defaced on a regular basis.

And, heaven forbid if the "G" should go out in a Black Angus sign.

although, based upon my reading of Fast Food Nation, it might not be off the target, at least for the ground beef.

Some of you may remember about 10 years ago on the main drag in Emeryville (down from Trader V, kitty corner from the infamous Denny's), there was an odd building that looked Bavarian/German in style, advertised for sushi and whose oddly-spaced Marquis (what restaurant has a Marquis?) read:

"K ARAO KEBAR"

I can still make my sister ROFL by saying

"Kah Areo Keebar!"

I love this thread!

On 2004-08-27 11:08, dangergirl299 wrote:
Some of you may remember about 10 years ago on the main drag in Emeryville (down from Trader V, kitty corner from the infamous Denny's), there was an odd building that looked Bavarian/German in style, advertised for sushi and whose oddly-spaced Marquis (what restaurant has a Marquis?) read:

"K ARAO KEBAR"

I can still make my sister ROFL by saying

"Kah Areo Keebar!"

That was the Bavarian Village, now known as Sushi Village. Their sign advertises "VEGETARIAN DRINKS."

i.e. no pork martinis

http://www.foody.org/home/martini.html

Oh man, this is exactly the kind of humor that appeals to me! (Which is why a lot of people don't understand me). I'm laughing so hard that the traffic cone keeps falling off my head!

Geeky - the "and his orchestra" sticker idea is absolutely hilarious! Do you mind if I use it myself sometime, as well as the "Violencia Domestica"?

Gigantalope - I wish I had found that "UR chURch bURn hURt" card. I would have framed it too.

HumuHumu - That "Claw" sign is breathtakingly inspired.

Swanky - Wish I had thought of the 'Big N Tasty' switch - that's classic and simple.

Of course, my favorite sign is this one that Doctor Z and I found at a garage sale:

Doctor Z made me buy it, and I'm eternally grateful that he did. Point it anything and snap a picture - it seems to enhance any photo. I amuse myself no end whether I'm chasing the tuba player around Oktoberfest with it or asking celebrities to hold it while I snap their pictures. Some people just don't get the humor, though.

Once for Halloween I dressed up in an army officer's uniform and affixed a big orange "Major Discounts" sticker from a supermarket on my chest and hat.

When I worked as a stockboy for Stats Floral Supply, we would build a enclosure to hold baby rabbits and ducks at Easter time. It had one of those plastic wading pools for the ducks, surrounded by astro-turf which our manager made us clean each night, much to our disgust.

So every evening when our manager left at six and it was just us stockboys and cashiers, my friend and I would erect our custom "Watch Ducks Dive For Spare Change" sign next to the wading pool. At the end of the evening, we'd collect the money and go buy a dozen donuts at the Winchell's across the street. The fact that the ducks refused to dive for the coins only hardened the resolve of the customers throw more money at them. Of course the ducks were oblivious.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2004-08-27 11:47 ]

On 2004-08-27 11:40, Johnny Dollar wrote:
i.e. no pork martinis

That would be perfectly paired with Meat-on-the-Bottom Yogurts! (can't remember the name of the comedian who went on about that)

Although it suspiciously looks like a chunk of tofu, which would make it a vegetarian drink.

That Bavarian place is all messed up. What will they think of next? A Vegetarian Car WAsh?

For a long time the marquee outside our local Arby's read "TIRED OF BUGERS?" I cracked up every time I drove past.

The first theme camp at burning man was Tiki Camp, and was started by about 10 of us (I loathe the thought now, but it was funny when everybody shot propane tanks from a catapults)

For awhile we were low on mixers at the surf board bar, and I thus invented "Hog Nog" which wasn't much different that this vile topics late digression. (Hog Grog is similar but usually served in winter)

in the early '70s I was fired from the Garden Grove Elks lodge for changing the BPOE Benevolant Protective Order of Elks marquee to Biggist Pricks On Earth.

There is a fuel station just past the ship gravyard going past benicia, toward Sacto on 80.
The ATM in the gas staion has little decorations by the letters that make ATM look like E atm E

We all can get lots of miles from that one.

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-08-27 13:16 ]

There are a number of funny/scary marquis' in Oregon without even needing defacement.

In Salem, there is a porn shop whose marquis always read "We have no Kiddie Porn"

Monmouth's Burgerville's marquis read "We hear you Monmouth - Now, Basket O Cheese!"
I'm not sure what a basket O cheese is but apparently there was enough clamour in Monmouth when they took it off the menu that they brought it back.

And then, driving out toward the coast from Salem, there was an old beat up trailer parked in a parking lot with a handpainted sign saying:
"Tools N Whut"

"Double check your pictures before making that real estate flyer"

I think this might qualify for the topic at hand....

Check out the large picture, and look out the window.

http://www.mlsb.com/mls/property_morephotos.cfm?ClientID=384&LIST_NUMB=40033129&list=2&ht=1&type=SFR

About 20 years ago I spotted a "Stop Ahead" sign on which someone wrote, "Take away his pipe". I still remember that every time I see one of those signs.

[ Edited by: TNTiki on 2004-11-06 15:13 ]

In reference to my earlier post. It looks like the webmaster caught wind of their blunder and "airbrushed" out the offending image. Wow, That didn't take long.

For those of you that missed it, outside the window were two dogs going at it.

Near my hometown in Wisconsin, there was a bar/restaurant that called itself 'THE INN OF THE ENCHANTED PINES,' located in a long stretch of road with not much there besides those pine trees. When I was a kid, they advertised by spelling out the name of their business along the backside of their open lawn. The name was spelled with large, bright red florescent panels - each panel holding a single letter, about 5 feet tall.

It didn't take too long before two letters in the final word were switched around, so the sign now read 'THE INN OF THE ENCHANTED PENIS'

Sadly, my parents never once stopped at this place.

Vern

Some company makes surfboard shaped sticker especially for this purpose, although they have writen on the backing paper that they were not intended for defacement of goverment property. Yeah right. We have a sign by my house that was defaced with those stickers so many times the county decided to just leave it there.
Defacing Peechee folder was always fun in school:
Knives in the runners hands, Football players diving for loose change. Skiers falling to there death. Way better than learnin'

-- I believe that our Heavenly Father invented the monkey because he was disappointed in man."
... Mark Twain

Come explore http://www.lost-isle.com

[ Edited by: Chongolio on 2004-08-27 20:27 ]

There was this horrendous italian restauraunt in the old office building I used to work at. Every single day I would nonchalantly wet a finger and change their 'free pool' sign to 'free poo' whenever I walked by the sign. You think they would have eventually changed it to 'billiards free of charge'.

Ya ya, its juvenile, but it made me laugh!

Its not defacement, but the corner tombstone in a cemetery along Range Line Road in Joplin, MO belongs to Jack Horner...you know, the nursery rhyme: "Little Jack Horner sat in a corner."

I used to work at a sporting goods store that sold Boy Scout's uniforms and such, and the shirts came 3 to a box, with the top labeled "Official Shirt". Short work to cut out an extra T, which would cover the r+t, leaving "Official Shit". I kept one of the lids and it's now tacked up over the Kitty Litter box.
My friend worked in a deli, and he programmed the scale to print the labels for the in store baked turkey as "Jive Turkey".

On 2004-08-27 20:17, Chongolio wrote:
Defacing Peechee folder was always fun in school:
Knives in the runners hands, Football players diving for loose change.

We always had the runners following a sign that said "Restrooms 10 Miles." The football players did lots of different things, mostly homoerotic.

On 2004-08-27 15:18, Hakalugi wrote:
In reference to my earlier post. It looks like the webmaster caught wind of their blunder and "airbrushed" out the offending image. Wow, That didn't take long.

For those of you that missed it, outside the window were two dogs going at it.

Seems like someone thought enough to mirror the picture.

I also think there is someone @ the hand Dryer company that is in charge of editing the instructions so it says.

1. Push Butt...
2. Rub hands under .arm
   3/ Wipe hands on pants.

It's usually on everyone I've seen.

I've been convinced for years that there's a Johnny Appleseed type of person wandering the earth on a mission to edit every hand dryer.

At the base of Topanga Canyon near where I lived as a kid was a mobile home park with a big fountain, we would ride our bikes by and toss in a Salvo laundry tablet and then ride like hell! The ensuing suds lasted about a week! Good clean fun...

If you left the good photo on the real estate add, you could have included "Romantic" in the listing.

I have not thought of the peechee thing in a long while, that's a riot!

Once in Santa Cruz, (Several ales into the afternoon) I stumbled to a cross walk, and next to me was an orange diamond shaped flagman sign
Not the one that sez "Flagman ahead" but the one with the man holding a flag.

The light took forever, and at some point I realized I had a sharpie. The only thing I could think of was giving the other side of the flag another line, so it looked like he was holding an upside down top hat, and making a poorly drawn rabbit pop it's head out like a magician.

Most of the flagman signs I've seen of late are fabric, or rubber...it's a shame. (I still carry a sharpie)

[ Edited by: gigantalope on 2004-08-28 15:24 ]

Oh, what fun this all is! National Lampoon's True Facts: The Big Book is brimming with this type of humor. I have laughed myself to tears scanning its pages. Check it out here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0809235595/qid=1093714354/sr=ka-2/ref=pd_ka_2/102-7206986-7524965

If you order it, be sure to go throught the Tiki Central Amazon link. Enjoy!

-Weird Unc

On 2004-08-27 20:55, badmojo wrote:
My friend worked in a deli, and he programmed the scale to print the labels for the in store baked turkey as "Jive Turkey".

Honkey Loaf! How could I forget the Honkey Loaf!

On 2004-08-27 13:27, dangergirl299 wrote:
There are a number of funny/scary marquis' in Oregon without even needing defacement.

On the subject of Oregon, Let's not forget the state-sanctioned signs, like the one on Highway 26, heading west in the Sandy area, that means to point you towards the towns of Oregon City and Boring, but instead compresses the information down to the acerbic "Boring Oregon City."

Some signs just need no defacin'.