Going way off topic here, but following on from Paul's recounting of road sign mysteries in the UK, my favourite sign (actually *on* the road) in the US has always been:
XING PED
Took me several days of driving around the States to figure that one out. I finally realised that the X was supposed to represent 'cross', and that 'ped' was short for 'pedestrian', but even then, that only gave me 'crossing pedestrian'.
Huh? Shouldn't it be 'pedestrian crossing', I thought.
And then the other penny dropped: in the US, you're supposed to read the words in the order you drive over them, not as you see them. Yikes, how weird is that, I thought. But then, our way probably seems just as weird to US drivers.
I finally realised that the X was supposed to represent 'cross', and that 'ped' was short for 'pedestrian', but even then, that only gave me 'crossing pedestrian'.
