Multilitteratus Incognitus

A while back I had posted a picture of a road sign (probably also from the failblog ) which showed male genitals and a big giant NO to spanking the monkey. At the time I wondered what exactly could have driven the polish government (or private company for that matter since I don't know if this is a national road sign) to create such a prohibition. Was spanking the monkey while driving such a huge problem that it endangered people on the road? Who does that? Anyway, this week on the failblog, a similar photo of a road sign, this time from Italy. This sign warns motorists that there are prostitutes ahead. Now the road seems straight, which means that you won't be coming around a bend and BAM, vehicular accident because of stopped vehicles of people gawking at prostitutes, or because humans at the side of the road showing off their wares. This brings me back to semiotics. I've never studied the topic, however I would LOVE to take a course in semiotics (perhaps once I gradua...

This semester I am taking two culture related courses. One is about the overall view of culture and how it intersects with the axes of language, power-relations, race relations, historical relations and so on. The other course is all about how one goes about the task of integrating the culture of a foreign country (or group of people) when you are teaching the language of that country or group. One of the elements that has come up is that each person, and each culture, are in fact shaped by various socio-economic-political-historical (and more) powers that are in effects in the regions where they grew up, where their parents grew up, their friends, families and coworkers. Within this shaping we have the creation of artifacts that are relevant to that culture. Now snap forward to regular life outside the classroom. I was catching up on my reading of the FAIL blog, and I saw this image (you need to follow the link since it may not be appropriate for work). This is a picture of a road si...