So as I was wandering around a very cool old railroad complex and roundhouse in Evanston, Wyoming I came upon an old dining car that had these words on the side of it. "DO NOT HUMP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES." I had a good laugh since I have a 5th grader's sense of humor and then had my husband explain the railroad lingo behind this funny sign. It seems that to "hump" a railroad car is to use a small hump in the tracks to get it to roll to where you want it. The car goes over the hump and then the hill causes it to roll further without having to push it or tow it there. I'm sure that's a simplistic and possibly not-quite-correct explanation of the term, but it will do.When we got home from our trip I posted the photo on flickr with the tag "sign" and it has become my most popular photo by far. None of my cool neon sign photos or funky art shots or architecture shots come close. I guess everyone appreciates a good chuckle.
The waymarker Team TGF saw it and said there should be a category for unintentionally funny signs. I know that someone brought up the idea a long time ago, but it never went anywhere. It would be a great category though, and if I don't remember to bring it up in the forums and get it going, someone else do it. It would be a great companion to the "odd business combos" group. I found one of those in Evanston too - a combo fireworks store and liquor store originally called "Porter's Fireworks and Firewater."
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