Sign Language

What is the meaning of this “Don’t Litter” sign, third from top?

Is there less value being placed in the currency of words, as images keep coming to the fore in this visual age?

One sign spotted in downtown Manhattan begs the question. Posted on 8th Street, just west of University Place, the sign reads: “Don’t Litter. 7:30-8:00 AM. Except Sunday.”

Pretty funny at first glance. The words’ literal message appears to be: don’t litter on one stretch of Greenwich Village’s 8th Street, during one half-hour period daily. Except Sundays. But it’s legal to litter in the vicinity any time outside this 30-minute window, six days a week and all day Sunday.

The scenario is good for a laugh. It also makes one wonder how words are being used in a sign intended to convey rules to the public in a city neighborhood. 

The words “Don’t Litter” appear inside a circle with a broom and the letter “P”. The broom’s stick is placed on the “P” — approximating the universal slash symbol for “don’t do” something. While this suggests a “no parking” message, “P” being the first letter in parking, not one word about parking appears on the sign. Did its designer simply forget to include “No Parking?”

There’s a broom pictured, so maybe the New York City Department of Sanitation could shed some light.  A “No Standing Sign” and a “1 Hour Parking” sign sandwich the “Don’t Litter” sign on the pole — perhaps New York’s Department of Transportation could decode the message.

Neither the Sanitation Department nor Department of Transportation commented on the “Don’t Litter” sign’s meaning, though. Spokesmen for both agencies posed the question: “Are you sure it’s ours?” However, Vito A. Turso, deputy commissioner for public information and community affairs at the Sanitation Department, laughed heartily, while acknowledging it is hard to know the meaning of: “Don’t Litter. 7:30-8 AM. Except Sunday.”

— Valerie Seckler

(Sign Language is an occasional feature spotlighting the use of words and images in notable signs.)