My brother, ever the jokester in our family, sent an e-mail about a bumper sticker he’d read: Bumper sticker of the Week: Humankind – Be Both (meaning, of course, you should be human and kind). Lovely sentiment; too bad we need a reminder.
In the twisted little world of my dyslexic brain, the inference I drew, however, was that I should be both a bumper sticker of the week, and a humankind. This one only took a couple of seconds, as opposed to minutes, or occasionally days, to unravel so that it made sense, allowing me to have the usual good chuckle at the hard-wiring in my head.
It reminded me of another sign—one of those big billboards you can’t miss that momentarily distract you as you drive along. This one was right off a freeway exit. It said merely: Wipes Clog Drains. No company sponsor, nothing.
It perplexed me as I’d read it: Wipe Clogged Drains. Well, that’s a worthy thought. I spent some time wondering just how you do that. I usually resort to Liquid Plumber. Have I been doing it wrong? Is this an ad for a plumbing company? Not very effective as there’s no contact information. You see how my mind digs in and gets half way to China in a hurry?
On my third pass by, I read it again: Wipes Clog Drains. What? As serendipity has it, I saw an ad in a magazine that very week that talked about our use of sanitary wipes, baby wipes, all manner of cleansing cloths that are disposable and are being flushed down toilets causing clogged drains. The point was simple. Throw them away, don’t flush them. Oh, well… that makes a whole lot more sense now, doesn’t it? Not half as much fun though.
(also see under Posts: Dyslexia and Loose Ghosts, Aug, 2009)
