Be careful what font you choose.

January 9, 2002 8:27 AM

Be careful what font you choose. Everyone deserves a good laugh at least once a day. I'm still laughing.
posted by onegoodmove (48 comments total)

I wonder how many car accidents occur in front of that sign.
posted by msacheson at 8:30 AM on January 9, 2002

well the car accidents even out by all the reproduction going on inside. MEGA reproduction.
posted by Satapher at 8:38 AM on January 9, 2002

I love mistakes like this. A few years ago here in Portland, a local brewery opened a pub called the Hawthorne St. Ale House. Of course, the period was too small and it was in all caps. To this day, we still call it the Stale House.

But that doesn't hold a candle to Megaf*cks.
posted by billder at 8:52 AM on January 9, 2002

My local faves are "Dick's Liquor" and down the street, the "Liquor Box."

But those only work when you say them out loud. They should put Mega in graphic design texbooks.
posted by halcyon at 8:55 AM on January 9, 2002

The best of this sort I've seen recently is a cigar store named after the family that owns it in Louisville, KY, called Cox Smokers.
posted by krakedhalo at 8:59 AM on January 9, 2002

One of my favorites was in Redondo Beach California and was called "Liquor & Market." Another that has be said outloud ;)
posted by terrapin at 9:01 AM on January 9, 2002

I had to view the source code to decipher how that damn sign was supposed to read.... (Fortunately, the img src is "megaflicks.jpg".)
posted by mattpfeff at 9:08 AM on January 9, 2002

"Crabby Dick's", in Windsor, Ontario. A seafood restaurant, no less.
posted by Succa at 9:08 AM on January 9, 2002

We had a guy in high school named Harry Butte (rhymes with mute). What cruel parents. Come to think of it, what were stock car driver Richard Trickle's parents thinking? I mean, come on, the first time I heard that a race was won by Dick Trickle, I was floored...
posted by sharksandwich at 9:13 AM on January 9, 2002

There was a store in Hamilton, Ontario called S.Lees

Cheap men's clothing...
posted by Stuart_R at 9:16 AM on January 9, 2002

Pop Will Eat Itself used to sell T-Shirts that bore the word "CLINT" on them. they were fairly creative with their kerning too.
posted by Spoon at 9:21 AM on January 9, 2002

well, this ain't directly related, but i once heard of a camping supply shop having a january sale and they advertised it with the slogan now is the winter of our discount tents.
posted by mokey at 9:22 AM on January 9, 2002

i-spy in private eye is a collection of these type of things.
unfortunately, the website only shows one at a time.
posted by asok at 9:29 AM on January 9, 2002

Peabody or Salem MA is home to the ever famous Bunghole Liquors.
posted by SuperBreakout at 9:34 AM on January 9, 2002

Boring, Oregon has some classics, including the legendary "Boring Drugs."

(Note that the site includes helpful links to "Boring People" and "Boring Apartments.")
posted by Skot at 9:40 AM on January 9, 2002

I'm not sure how this is related...but I guess we shouldn't leave out NH State Rep. Dick Sweat
posted by Greener at 9:44 AM on January 9, 2002

This particular photo appears with stunning regularity on FilePile and ilovebacon.
posted by briank at 9:45 AM on January 9, 2002

I'd say it's less a problem with the typeface and more an issue with kerning.
posted by Kikkoman at 9:46 AM on January 9, 2002

SuperBreakout: Bunghole Liquors is in Peabody MA. Honestly, what were they (or any of these examples) thinking?
posted by JonahBlack at 9:47 AM on January 9, 2002

Maybe it was intentional.
posted by quirked at 9:51 AM on January 9, 2002

ilovebacon has an insidious popup ad that is a chromeless browser window that still looks like a regular browser window. don't click the 'x'! control-w out of it.
posted by o2b at 10:06 AM on January 9, 2002

A bunghole is the hole in a barrel or cask used to fill it. Only (I suspect) with the advent of Beavis and Butthead did it take on another meaning. (First place I heard it, anyway.)
posted by Danelope at 10:14 AM on January 9, 2002

a bunghole is the hole in a wine barrel that the bung (cork) goes in.

what's so funny about that?
posted by modge at 10:14 AM on January 9, 2002

Almost as good.
posted by kindall at 10:15 AM on January 9, 2002

I'll never forget where I was when I found out Peter O'Toole had a double phallic name.
posted by bondcliff at 10:16 AM on January 9, 2002

dang, Danelope!
posted by modge at 10:19 AM on January 9, 2002

Not a smutty reference, but almost as good as Boring Drugs is the Idle Working Mens Club. Still making me laugh after all these years.
posted by wassock at 10:20 AM on January 9, 2002

Not a font problem but in my town, we have a "C" thief. He/she likes to steal the first letter from the local bowling alley's sign - Canal Lanes, as well as the first letter from the sign in front of McDonalds - Closers Wanted.
posted by martk at 10:22 AM on January 9, 2002

I remember a newspaper story about cheerleaders who passed out at a cheerleading camp during a hot summer:

Cheerleaders pass out in heat
posted by jeblis at 10:32 AM on January 9, 2002

Ha ha, Kindall. I've got a picture of me and a buddy standing behind that Dicks arrow.
posted by shinybeast at 10:40 AM on January 9, 2002

I'll never forget where I was when I found out Peter O'Toole had a double phallic name.

When I was seven and told my mother that Spider-Man's real name was "Peter Parker", she just about doubled-over laughing. I didn't figure out why until, like, twenty years later.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 10:41 AM on January 9, 2002

And Sportcenter's favorite...NASCAR driver Dick Trickle.

It took me forever to figure out what it really said. What a riot.
posted by aacheson at 11:05 AM on January 9, 2002

This was really juvenile, but back in high school, we loved to make jokes about Carolina's Head Football Coach, Dick Crum.
posted by allpaws at 11:25 AM on January 9, 2002

Boring, Oregon has some classics, including the legendary "Boring Drugs."

Heh. I used to work at the Boring Burger in Boring, Oregon...way back when.
posted by NsJen at 11:33 AM on January 9, 2002

This is fwd'd to me almost weekly. Along with this one.
posted by jpoulos at 12:35 PM on January 9, 2002

I got a big laugh out of this picture over at bluishorange.
posted by eamondaly at 12:39 PM on January 9, 2002

I was watching a favorite childhood movie of mine, "The Goonies" with some of friends the other day, when it was pointed out just how phallic the name "One-Eyed Willy" actually is. Lots of lines in the movie take on entirely new meanings!
posted by GeekAnimator at 1:16 PM on January 9, 2002

In the dread old days of the comics code, there were two things a writer was never *never* to use in his script. One taboo was the word "flick" and the other taboo was the name "Clint".... A slip of the hand in the inking and that month's entire run might have to be recalled and pulped. Ah, such memories you've brought back!
posted by realjanetkagan at 1:16 PM on January 9, 2002

My local Red Rooster is always short of an 's'.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:11 PM on January 9, 2002

In New Jersey there's a strip mall that has a Dick's, BJ's, Sieman's, and a USA Baby. Chortle. And the self-storage place down the street from me lost the "s" in self and was "elf storage" for many, many years, which gave my geek heart a thrill every time I saw it.
posted by kittyloop at 2:23 PM on January 9, 2002

I live about 20 mins from that "Megaflicks"... It closed down about 2-3 years ago... but the sign was not like that..

That is an OLD photoshopped (even tho it could be done with MS paint) jpg that has been going around for some time...
posted by BlitzK at 3:07 PM on January 9, 2002

::fun ruined::
posted by lotsofno at 3:29 PM on January 9, 2002

I dunno, BlitzK, I'm not saying that you're wrong, or lying, or anything like that, but I just saved the image locally and examined it under 4 and 8 times magnification, and I couldn't see any evidence of photoshopping...

maybe someone else with more photoshopping experience than I can give their two cents
posted by lizardboy at 3:36 PM on January 9, 2002

*this post is being made by thatwhichfall's wife*

Does it bother anyone else that the United States is currently being headed (pardon the pun) by Bush, Dick, and Colin?
posted by thatwhichfalls at 3:38 PM on January 9, 2002

When I was a kid, I thought people stole letters from signs to use them in other ones. An "U" from a Pub could be used in a "Drugstore" sign.
It's not relevant, but I just wanted to share my stupidity with you...
posted by Flor at 4:21 PM on January 9, 2002

There's always Dick Smith's take on Redhead matches.

But I suppose that doesn't really count, because it's deliberate.
posted by eoz at 5:06 AM on January 10, 2002

There's always Dick Smith's take on Redhead matches.

But I suppose that doesn't really count, because it's deliberate.
posted by eoz at 5:08 AM on January 10, 2002

Sorry... I honestly thought it hadn't posted the first time.
posted by eoz at 5:10 AM on January 10, 2002