Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign...

Jul 26, 2005
Highway Signs in Easthampton, Mass., Bear the Outline of Alabama
EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) - The highway signs at the intersection of Routes 10 and 141 might make you think you'd taken a wrong turn and wound up in the Deep South.
Amid the staid Yankee surroundings of this western Massachusetts town, the recently installed signs bear the outline of the state of Alabama, squashed to fit the square shape.
The incorrect signs had been up about a week when Joe Pipczynski, Easthampton's superintendent of public works, was alerted by a state Highway Department worker.

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I don't understand how this could happen.
Alabama signs couldn't be more distinctive from Massachusetts signs.
Let's examine first, a sign from Alabama:


Look at the outline of that state. Does that look even remotely like this?


Of course not.
Moreover, Massachusetts signage can be clearly distinguished in other ways.

First, owing to its revolutionary past, Massachusetts signs are very often Colonial in nature.
Compare:


Massachusetts


Alabama

Secondly, because of their starkly different political leanings, people from Massachusetts say things differently from Alabamians.
Compare:

Alabama


Massachusetts

Finally, Alabamians are simple folk.
They say what they mean, mean what they say, and let it go at that.
For example:


Massachusetts, the other hand...well they just can't say enough.




Yep.