Since my original post on gender-inscribed signage hit the ‘blogwaves’, I’ve found myself closely scrutinising pedestrian crossings (and other sign-heavy areas) for goodies to delight and amuse.
The controlling brotherly hand of the child (seen in the last post) seems to easily become the controlling 'husbandy' hand of the man, if this image (snapped on one of my flâneur-esque wanders) is anything to go by. Careful there darling…1
As Scott McCloud suggested, in the excellent Understanding Comics, one can abstract the human form, or (in particular) the human face, quite significantly without the image in question losing its meaning.2 All one needs for a face to be recognisably a face are two ‘dots’ for eyes, and one for a mouth (the nose is superfluous):
When it comes to warning signs the degree of abstraction and simplification (or ornamentation) doesn’t seem to vary enormously from place to place, but there are some interesting differences to be found. While most ‘pedestrian-crossing-guys’ seem to follow the "plain stick figure about to address a snooker table" format, the iconic cautioners of Norway and (the former) East Germany are imbued with far more personality.
Though the Norwegian chap on the right is depicted in full (1950s) business attire, the effect is curiously more reminiscent of "Freddy Krueger" than anything else. On the left, also kitted out in the uniform of the busy, urban gent, we have the Ampelmännchen (or "little man on the traffic signal"), of whom the Wikipedia entry says the following:
The East Berlin Ampelmann was created in 1961 by traffic psychologist Karl Peglau. He theorised that people would respond better to the traffic signals if they were presented by a friendly character, instead of meaningless coloured lights. The spring in his step is reminiscent of typical communist imagery of the enthusiastic worker advancing to a utopian socialist future. However, Peglau is said to have feared initially that the design might be rejected because of its "bourgeois" hat.
Ah yes, nothing like the confidence of a figure marching vigorously towards a "utopian socialist future". The characters in Irish signs, by contrast, seem instead to be tramping dutifully to mass…or loping disconsolately to school, where a ruler across the back of the head from the Nuns, or Christian Brothers, awaits.
- Is that a briefcase or a ‘man-bag’ in the gentleman’s hand by the way? [back]
- Kind I Like is continuing its mission to demonstrate accidental and haphazard incidents of this phenomenon. [back]
saw the world’s first ever ‘pedestrian-crossing’ guy in Berlin a few years back - the highlight (ho ho) of my young life -although they may well have been having me on.
I was told by a resident - an Irish guy - that he once crossed the street before the light signalled that it was safe to do so and was reprimanded by a local lady standing beside him with the quaint phrase: “Child Killer!”.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:09 amWell if the Germans are compulsive green/red man observers, then the Irish have to be the world champions for reckless ‘jay-walking’ (anyone who’s driven down O’Connell St. in Limerick will know what I’m talking about).
I too witnessed people refusing to cross an empty road (until the green man appeared) on a recent trip to Düsseldorf. It was pretty amusing, but I have been reliably informed that it is intended to show an example to German children…so maybe the “Child Killer” incident really happened.
June 8th, 2006 at 1:02 pmThe Germans are so lovely. They could never do anything bad.
June 8th, 2006 at 2:28 pmThe “child killer” incident really did happen. More than once. In a number of different ways!
In my book jay walking is the bees knees (whatever that means). I mean, if you’re not able to negotiate a simple street crossing then what hope have you in traversing the myriad byways and so forth of life? As a resident of Greece I have come to realise that, although somewhat accomplished, the Irish are rank amateurs. Skipping queues is also something they also excel at here, the pups.
June 9th, 2006 at 8:19 amand I quote: “….is also something they also…..”
Man, I need to go home.
June 9th, 2006 at 8:29 amRE: my need to go home.
Having spotted this on the telly Eireann website I’m beginning to reconsider:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0609/exam.html
Too short? In my day this was never an issue, too long perhaps but never, ever, too short. Too short was manly, too long was for benders. ’tis a topsy turvy world.
June 9th, 2006 at 8:35 amI was never actually called a child killer in Berlin, but my friends and I did get glowered at a lot whenever we crossed on the red light on our way home. This was despite the fact that the road we were crossing was the 17. Juni Strasse, which is about 10 miles long and completely straight, so the chance of a car taking us by surprise was pretty non-existant.
I do love the Ampelmannchen, even though I might not always have obeyed his instructions. I was in Berlin for the summer of ‘95 when the differences between the east and west parts of the city were very visible (much more so than they are now). One of the first signs that you were in the east was the delightful Ampelmannchen and his jaunty bourgeois hat. There was talk back then of changing the lights to the western model, but the Ampelmannchen was so beloved that in most cases he stayed on. He was certainly in a few eastern street lights when I was back there two years ago.
June 9th, 2006 at 9:51 am