CROOOFFMEE

September 12, 2019 1:10 PM

If you hard, then you hard: object lessons in readability
posted by overeducated_alligator (29 comments total)

NO SAFETY/SMOKING FIRST is brilliant, but I’m lost on the floating guy/dancing guy meme.
posted by rodlymight at 1:20 PM on September 12, 2019 [5 favorites]

DRINK TREE
FROG BEER
posted by chavenet at 1:22 PM on September 12, 2019

JELLY BABY NEEDS JELLY

WORDS TRUER SPOKEN NEVER
posted by gwint at 1:23 PM on September 12, 2019 [3 favorites]

For Fallen
Residents
Pickup Day
IT IS
GARBAGE
posted by mbrubeck at 1:26 PM on September 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

I made Automatic Caution Door because of just this sort of thing.
posted by oulipian at 1:30 PM on September 12, 2019 [9 favorites]

When travelling in Myanmar (in the brief window it didn't seem terrible terrible), I saw a sign that said:

RES
TROO
M ➡️

Which reminded me of David Shirgley's label art for Deerhoof.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:43 PM on September 12, 2019

but I’m lost on the floating guy/dancing guy meme.

Moi aussi. This is the second time today that I've read something on MeFi that I completely didn't understand because I'm out of touch with the youngs or something. It's very disconcerting.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:54 PM on September 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

I’m pretty sure the floating guy represents the inescapable brainworm of what the sign says literally, but the kid running away is what you try to remind yourself it’s supposed to say.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 2:11 PM on September 12, 2019 [3 favorites]

Floating Boy Chasing Running Boy via knowyourmeme.com
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:12 PM on September 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

PUSH BARMAN TO OPEN OLD WOUNDS
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 2:21 PM on September 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

The examples on knowyourmeme make sense in a way that this use doesn’t, to me. I’m sure it’s what overeducated_alligator is saying above, but it just doesn’t parse (again, to me).
posted by rodlymight at 2:35 PM on September 12, 2019

Puts me in mind of failed attempts at the MeatEater logo.
posted by SonInLawOfSam at 2:36 PM on September 12, 2019

shosple colupis is a pretty good sock puppet name if you like that sort of thing.
posted by The Bellman at 2:40 PM on September 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

I’m still kicking myself for not taking a photo of the sign in front of an elevator in Shanghai:

PAU
SEUSE
暂停使用
posted by bradf at 2:43 PM on September 12, 2019

These are making me ugly chortle and just really lose it so thank you
posted by bleep at 3:06 PM on September 12, 2019 [3 favorites]

DON'T DEAD OPEN INSIDE

To those who are confused: You're not missing anything, this is an inappropriate use of the floating/running meme.
posted by tobascodagama at 3:11 PM on September 12, 2019

Reading this is like my younger self learning how to read comic books. There's probably a whole subreddit on ambiguous panel sequences.
posted by simra at 3:31 PM on September 12, 2019 [2 favorites]

*Mitch Hedberg voice* Dammit Otto...you have shosple colupis.
posted by ilana at 4:10 PM on September 12, 2019 [2 favorites]

There's probably a whole subreddit on ambiguous panel sequences.

Ambiguous panel sequences maybe, ambiguous typographic layout yes: /r/DontDeadOpenInside
posted by snowmentality at 4:18 PM on September 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

shosple colupis is a pretty good sock puppet name if you like that sort of thing.

I'm definitely sticking it my "DMing and need a quick name for an NPC" file.
posted by penduluum at 4:21 PM on September 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

HONK JESUS, HONK IF YOU SAVES!

Punctuation matters, man.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:48 PM on September 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

I mean, I get the idea... but I feel like you have to really make an effort to misread some of these. If you've ever read a newspaper, you should be able to parse text that's divided into multiple columns.
posted by Crane Shot at 5:16 PM on September 12, 2019

I mean, I get the idea... but I feel like you have to really make an effort to misread some of these. If you've ever read a newspaper, you should be able to parse text that's divided into multiple columns.

Fair, but there's also a practice in newspaper layout that dictates side-by-side headlines, a.k.a. "tombstones" are to be avoided precisely for readability reasons.

*turns on light table, heats up waxer*
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:34 PM on September 12, 2019 [6 favorites]

Yes, but even newspapers work hard to avoid tombstoning. They're familiar with how not to make things obscure or create misunderstandings.
posted by hippybear at 6:34 PM on September 12, 2019 [3 favorites]

IF    YOU
YOU  DISS
DISS YOUR
DRE  SELF

posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:26 PM on September 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

I can reverse engineer most of these to get the original intent, but I just can't undesign this to make a complete legible sentence:

https://twitter.com/XeroOwnz/status/1172185521109512193

"The sooner I stopped giving a fuck the sooner I started to make sure who was and who wasn't real family" work, but there's a loose "everything".

The weird-ass flow suggests ""The sooner I stopped giving a fuck the sooner I started everything to make sure who was and who wasn't real family"
posted by Shepherd at 3:52 AM on September 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

This was a wonderful gift. Thank you. CROOOFFMEE in particular makes me snorfle.
posted by brainwane at 4:52 PM on September 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

THIS PLACE IS  HIGHLY ESTEEMED  HERE. NOTHING
NOT  A  PLACE  DEED         IS  VALUED                                      
OF HONOR.  NO  COMMEMORATED     IS      HERE.

posted by mbrubeck at 5:42 PM on September 13, 2019 [6 favorites]

Love this one that laughs in the face of this Reddit, along the lines of the Meat Eater logo.
posted by ejs at 12:46 PM on September 15, 2019 [3 favorites]