"Signs, signs, everywhere a sign...
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind."
Heh. Silly hippies -- over here, unless you're heavily into beige, the signs *are* the scenery.
I've already introduced you to this one:
But most of the time, the signs you see are informational -- and if the information's important enough, they'll be bilingual.
The larger lettering is, of course, aimed at the larger audience -- in this case, the drivers who are waiting at the checkpoint for their cars to be inspected for unauthorized exothermic devices capable of producing a transient dynamic overpressure in the immediate environment.
Some of them are informational for *both* Englitch and Arabic speakers:
Some are strictly utilitarian.
And some are just meant to provide amusement for a select target audience.
The "in" joke here, of course, is that there are only five gates on the FOB perimeter, and all of them go through Kirkuk...
Some are of historic significance -- Iraqi Olympic hopefuls trained here back in the Saddam Days, and there are plenty of reminders. This is the last sign a few of them saw when they failed to bring back a brag for Saddam...
The ones who took a bullet here were lucky -- the swimming team had to dive from the 10-meter platform into an empty pool in Balad.
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind."
Heh. Silly hippies -- over here, unless you're heavily into beige, the signs *are* the scenery.
I've already introduced you to this one:
But most of the time, the signs you see are informational -- and if the information's important enough, they'll be bilingual.
The larger lettering is, of course, aimed at the larger audience -- in this case, the drivers who are waiting at the checkpoint for their cars to be inspected for unauthorized exothermic devices capable of producing a transient dynamic overpressure in the immediate environment.
Some of them are informational for *both* Englitch and Arabic speakers:
Some are strictly utilitarian.
And some are just meant to provide amusement for a select target audience.
The "in" joke here, of course, is that there are only five gates on the FOB perimeter, and all of them go through Kirkuk...
Some are of historic significance -- Iraqi Olympic hopefuls trained here back in the Saddam Days, and there are plenty of reminders. This is the last sign a few of them saw when they failed to bring back a brag for Saddam...
The ones who took a bullet here were lucky -- the swimming team had to dive from the 10-meter platform into an empty pool in Balad.
