San Francisco: Bush^H^H^H Obama Street
An internet prankster tells Boing Boing:
Early this morning in San Francisco, Bush Street was changed to Obama Street along its entire length, from Presidio to Battery. If you link to this, please link to the "obamastreetsign" tag as there will probably be many other photos of the changed signs. (Or perhaps wait for an official statement from whoever is responsible.)flickr link for evidence/images. Snapshot cropped above courtesy Tim Pratt.
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[Off topic: Has sterling devalued so much that you are putting Dutch banner ads on BB in the UK? Interesting.]
@Patrick, probably remnant ads. They just come up from a large pool of weird stuff we don't approve ad-by-ad.
It's like "all your base are belong to us" all over again!
I friggin HATE street sign graffiti and vandalism like this.
While the change may be topical, just think of anyone who relies on street signs to know where they are or were they are going.
Plus, as we can see from the snapshot used they DID NOT use reflective material for the change thus negating the ability to read it at night.
#4 I thought everyone in San Fran had an iphone anyways...
And here I was hoping the sign would actually say: Bush^H^H^H^HObama... :P
I lived in SF on Bush st. when Bush was elected. Somebody did a similar prank and replaced "Bush" with "Puppet".
It's not the first time someone's eliminated bush in San Fransico.
@AKBAR56 #4
No one in San Francisco will be confused by this. Also, most intersections have larger green signs with the street name, which are much easier to spot while driving. The little white signs they modified are more "pedestrian scale" so the lack of reflectivity won't be much of a problem.
Given the title of this post, the street name would be "BObama Street." You should probably add a fourth backspace character, otherwise don't bother trying to be funny by using it in your title.
@Solomon, thanks! That's not pedantic at all.
@Solomon, actually, it would be "B Obama Street". You should probably double check your snarky nerd nitpicks, otherwise don't bother trying to be pedantic by bringing it up.
really have to develop a coinage,something for the internet age that combines snarky/nerd/nit-pick/pedantic in one tidy package.
Doesn't snark require a humor component?
#4
If you're relying on the signs for navigation and don't get the gag, wherever you're going is better off without you ;)
Whoever put them up obviously did not intend for them to be permanent.
snicker or chortle?
Yeah Antinous. Snarky totally requires a humor component, it's totally not just another way of saying "sarcastic asshole". That's why the definition is "Rudely sarcastic or disrespectful; snide." Next time you try to be clever, try to use a little less fail. kthx
Takuan: snorkle?
my vote is for "nerd-pick". As in "I don't mean to nerd-pick here, but technically that uses clockwork, which makes it clockpunk"
@zikzak
I don't mean to nerd-pick, but steampunk > steampowered. My gaslightsaber with totally overworked brass clockwork control mechanisms can still be totally steampunk...
Very cool streetsign mod. If you saw that sign and didn't realize what street it really was, you'd be a terd.
But wasn't Bush St. named after someone other than W, daddy, or grandpappy?
(Kinda like the Castro is not named after Fidel.)
Bonus points if you can find out who Bush St. was named after, good luck with your Googling...Something tells me it's named after George Washington Bush? (See wikipedia.)
I guess this wasn't the first time?
zikzak,
Thanks for the definition. I hope mom gets home soon with the pop tarts. You sound like you might be hypoglycemic.
Lol Antinous!
This is a pretty funny joke. I'd think anyone walking the streets of San Francisco would get it. The residents I know there don't seem to be perturbed.
your concern is heartwarming antinous, I can tell you're very knowledgeable about the symptoms of hypoglycemia. Oh, wait...have you ever heard of this thing called science? Because I think it just said you don't know jack, because actually, uh...actually...
ah, forget it, I got nothing.
It's a good sign.
Snardpictic.
..."snardpicking"?...definitely closer .."snardpickery".....is there a way to make it sound like a Dickens character?
@Solomon, wouldn't the better, simpler choice be ^W?
In all honesty, I was quite surprised to see that 'snark' has been around for a century. I assumed that it was a recent neologism from the internet. Is 'recent neologism' redundant in this context?
"Snarky" is not new. "Snarf" is a relatively recent development I wish would go away, though.
"is there a way to make it sound like a Dickens character?
Snardpicker'minster?
"Pecksniff" has always been a favorite of mine, it lends itself to pecksniffian, pecksniffery. Is "Snardpick" acceptable as an alt/Dickens universe transplant? An illustration would create the character and hence the term. I'm thinking tall,thin, weedy, dagger-nosed(chronically dripping)pince nez, Fagin gloves, shovel purse, compact dictionary on thong around neck,darting weasel eyes in a rat face and a voice like a dentist's drill set on "11". Detail supplements solicited sil vous plait. Pray contribute.
A Jewish stereotype, then?
never been to Scotland I take it?
Takuan,
I called in an air strike on my own self on that last comment. I am not the type to pick a fight, and I do assume the best of you. I got a little trigger happy, and I apologize. And no, never been, but knew a cantankerous book binder from there.
did he have pince nez?
Not that I observed, but he did had a sign on his desk that read "Be considerate-throw your rubbish in England".
@claud9999 Bush Street was named after a little-known assistant of city surveyor O'Farrell.
As far as self-righteous cackles of vandalism you're way off base. They weren't stickers, double-sided picture mount foam tape was used so as not to vandalize the signs or permanently mar them.
And the rest of you, bitch all you want, we had a blast putting these up. Grow a sense of humor, because you're gripes can't bring us down.
#8 Anonymous
"It's not the first time someone's eliminated bush in San Fransico."
The Freudian implications of G W Bush's holidays in Crawford Texas, where he spent his leisure time eliminating, er, bushes, had not occurred to me before.
Many of these were still visible this afternoon on my drive downtown, and they were getting lots of attention.
Nit-farming, perhaps? "That's a nice crop ya brought in!"
And "chortle" makes me think of some misplaced web comic, involving Matrix parody...
*flat robotic voice:*
"I chortle in a simulation of humor: HAA HAA HAA HAA HAA!"
I need to see EDGORE's GaslightSabre, madly.
Saddlebacking?
"The old Kingsfield"?
"The old Houseman?"
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=969486
say, did Bush ever get that shit-plant named after him?
aw darn it
http://caps.fool.com/blogs/viewpost.aspx?bpid=131376&t=01007422989251003253
is there a torture chamber somewhere they could name after him?
While the change may be topical, just think of anyone who relies on street signs to know where they are or were they are going.
It has been hard for 8 year for anyone to know in what country they were and now the US, at long last, has a chance to go somewhere else than to hell.
On a more practical note, if someone doesn't realize that it is a sticker covering something else, and then if they don't suspect that it could be Bush's name, then they probably have been already so lost for so long that nothing could help them: Bush partisans?
#47 Takuan:
The yes vote only wound up amounting to 30%!
bastards!
"I hope mom gets home soon with the pop tarts. You sound like you might be hypoglycemic."
That made me laugh.
It's always good to be easily amused.
This is pretty funny, the same guys i assume actually did this the night before the election as well, i was walking on bush when a SUV pulled up some guys jumped out and with a pole cleaned the bush sign then smacked on the obama sign and drove off.
I live on the corner of "Kerr" and "Gore" streets in Melbourne (AU) and a few months ago, someone did this to the signs: http://picasaweb.google.com/l1wz095z8dz/AussieSignage#5290371673174843330
snerdittic