Real-life mall obit puzzle
Mark Brader
and I sat down for a minute on a bench. (In case you know the place,
it was the bench near the greeting-card store.)
And I noticed a sign some distance away within the mall, in the style
you'd expect for a store's sign or for a permanent or semipermanent
sign advertising a specific product. But what I thought it said was
"obit". And the only thing those letters brought to my mind was
obituaries. Not a likely name for either a store or a product!
Then I realized there was a logo before the O. I couldn't immediately
place it; it wasn't the logo of a store or product that I used, but
that doesn't tell you anything. The logo was obviously a drawing of
something; was I supposed to read it as a letter, making "Hobit" or
"Mobit" or "Nobit" or something? Nothing like that made sense to me
either.
Then after 30 seconds or so, I suddenly realized how I *was* supposed
to read the sign (and once I got that, I remembered that the logo was
indeed one I'd often seen in ads before).
How?
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Asps. Very dangerous. You go first."
m...@vex.net -- Raiders of the Lost Ark
My text in this article is in the public domain.
E Z Peaces
> The other day I was in the mall part of the Yonge Eglinton Centre,
> and I sat down for a minute on a bench. (In case you know the place,
> it was the bench near the greeting-card store.)
>
> And I noticed a sign some distance away within the mall, in the style
> you'd expect for a store's sign or for a permanent or semipermanent
> sign advertising a specific product. But what I thought it said was
> "obit". And the only thing those letters brought to my mind was
> obituaries. Not a likely name for either a store or a product!
>
> Then I realized there was a logo before the O. I couldn't immediately
> place it; it wasn't the logo of a store or product that I used, but
> that doesn't tell you anything. The logo was obviously a drawing of
> something; was I supposed to read it as a letter, making "Hobit" or
> "Mobit" or "Nobit" or something? Nothing like that made sense to me
> either.
>
> Then after 30 seconds or so, I suddenly realized how I *was* supposed
> to read the sign (and once I got that, I remembered that the logo was
> indeed one I'd often seen in ads before).
>
> How?
protective rubber footwear.
The sign was for serious birdwatchers, the kind who wear glasses with
rearview mirrors in malls to spot the ducks that duck if they look.
In a birdwatcher's mirror, the sign would read "tidological." That
would remind them of the danger of being in a salt marsh a mile from
high ground when the tide came in. They'd double back and buy a pair of
boots.
Mark Brader
> > to read the sign (and once I got that, I remembered that the logo was
> > indeed one I'd often seen in ads before).
> It was a red cross, logo of Logical Inc...
Nope.
> The sign was for serious birdwatchers, the kind who wear glasses with
> rearview mirrors in malls to spot the ducks that duck if they look.
!
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "... pure English is de rigueur"
m...@vex.net -- Guardian Weekly
David
"Mark Brader" <m...@vex.net> wrote in message
news:EK-dnecuyuI1QbzW...@vex.net...
Mark Brader
>> And I noticed a sign some distance away within the mall, in the style
>> you'd expect for a store's sign or for a permanent or semipermanent
>> sign advertising a specific product. But what I thought it said was
>> "obit". And the only thing those letters brought to my mind was
"David" writes:
> I don't know Canadian brands, but is there a dog fod called fidos or fido?
Close enough! Fido is actually a cellphone service provider.
Now the next question is, why did it take me 30 seconds to realize
that the lettering was reversed, when I *knew* I was looking at the
sign in a mirrored wall?
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "No flames were used in the creation of
m...@vex.net | this message." -- Ray Depew
Mensanator
> Mark Brader:
>
> >> And I noticed a sign some distance away within the mall, in the style
> >> you'd expect for a store's sign or for a permanent or semipermanent
> >> sign advertising a specific product. But what I thought it said was
> >> "obit". And the only thing those letters brought to my mind was
> >> obituaries...
> "David" writes:
> > I don't know Canadian brands, but is there a dog fod called fidos or fido?
>
> Close enough! Fido is actually a cellphone service provider.
>
> Now the next question is, why did it take me 30 seconds to realize
> that the lettering was reversed, when I *knew* I was looking at the
> sign in a mirrored wall?
Because your brain works by pattern recognition.
Mark Brader
>>> And I noticed a sign some distance away within the mall, in the style
>>> you'd expect for a store's sign or for a permanent or semipermanent
>>> sign advertising a specific product. But what I thought it said was
"David" writes:
>> I don't know Canadian brands, but is there a dog fod called fidos or fido?
Mark Brader:
> Close enough! Fido is actually a cellphone service provider.
>
> Now the next question is, why did it take me 30 seconds to realize
> that the lettering was reversed, when I *knew* I was looking at the
> sign in a mirrored wall?
The answer is that the typeface was a simple sans serif one. So the
lower case "i" looked the same backwards as it would normally, and
I could reasonably assume that a lower case "t" might have a straight
bottom. Consequently the *first three letters*, "ido" seen as "obi",
looked perfectly normal, and that was enough to put it into my mind
that I was seeing the sign in its normal appearance. I knew it was
a mirrored wall, but I assumed that there must be *another* mirror
facing it and I was seeing the sign in the form of a double reflection.
The top of the "f", seen as "t", did look odd, but at first I assumed
this was just some sort of flourish, tying the letter together with the
dot on the I. (It was not an "fi" ligature.) As the logo seemed to be
taking the place of a capital letter at the start of the word, I assumed
that the flourish at the other end was meant to balance it somehow.
For, as I say, about 30 seconds until I got it right.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "... trapped in a twisty little maze
m...@vex.net of backslashes ..." -- Steve Summit