May 14, 2008
Beloved U of T
Little-known fact: Third-party mobile signs, such as the one above for the U of T Career Centre, are illegal in Toronto (and the City recently hired a sort of bounty hunter to drive around in a truck, seizing and impounding them). Perhaps this is one of the reasons why.
Photo taken by Jonathan Goldsbie early Thursday morning at the northwest corner of St. George and Harbord. The sign has since been removed.
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The sign's been around, in various stages of retooling, since at least last month; here's what it looked like then.
So is graffitti. Yet you people continue to aid in its proliferation by promoting it.
Why censor the word cunt, but leave penis untouched?
Is this really newsworthy?
I agree with Rek. Leave no penis untouched!
Now how will tyrannosaurus_rek advertise for a date?
I'm not looking for anyone, Doggiez, your mom and I are quite happy together. :)
In answer to your question, rek, I chose to leave "penis" as it was because it's the most acceptable, commonly understood, scientific, and specific word for the thing which it signifies; it's simply the name of a body part, and I wouldn't censor it any more than I would "vagina." I blurred "CUNT" (just enough to make it difficult to read on first glance), because having that word in all-caps neon letters on our front page would probably make the site unsafe for work. Further, although it's just another slang term in England and maybe elsewhere, it's still legitimately perceived to be an especially hateful curse word in our own social context. I also wanted to make it clear that I am not endorsing this crude and juvenile defacement.
PickleToes: Newsworthy? Not at all. Blogworthy? I'd argue as much.
But really, why is there a ban on these signs in the first place? I'd actually like to know. Before the ban were these kinds of signs all over town and making it it impossible to enjoy Toronto?
It's a ban on the signs as third-party advertising devices. A mobile sign can still be used if it's "in front of the business that the sign is advertising," but there are restrictions [PDF] and you need a permit.
I think they were prohibited for third-party purposes because some people feel they look cheap and detract from streetscapes that are crowded with them (e.g. Bathurst north of Glencairn). I'm personally not a fan, but they're at the bottom of my list of priorities. Howard Moscoe, though, really, really hates them.
(8), is that self-satire, an onion article in progress, or do you really think every stupid question (including this one) needs a navel-admiring, paragraph-long, cloyingly-PC response? Bonus points for the four justifications for not using "wang" (even there were really only two justifications and two redundancies), and then adding another justification after an incorrectly-used semi-colon.
Other than that, you seem like a really easy-going guy.
I hate these signs in all contexts, but interesting to hear they are banned at 3rd party locations.
Tuds
Sounds like a sexy time.
p.s. I'd rather watch a show about a bounty hunter that takes these signs down.
@Tyrannosaurus Rek
"Your mom and me," surely. And what is up with your photo, my friend? It is truly disturbing.
x_the_x: Of course, to respond to the majority of your comment would just reinforce your impressions of me, but I must take serious issue with your assertion that my semicolon was used incorrectly.
I think that's a decent use of a semi-colon.
I thought this was a class assignment for Ad Busting & Culture Jamming 101.
Those things are such an eyesore, the less they pollute the campus the better.