Signs of the Times.

Well yes, now that you ask, my thirst for signs I find to be comical and witty does indeed continue unabated. Innuendo? Check. Juvenile humour? Check. Snickers shared in a subtle glance with a partner? Check.

I liked this one. Really. It's also quite appropriate, I suppose, for a store laden with sweets, chocolates and sundry other sugar-laden hip, thigh and rear end enhancers to be called "Nuttin' Butt". Walking by a number of its patrons, however, I saw just how fine a line it is between wit and irony. A lot finer than many of them were.

Signs like this were affixed every five feet or so to a fence surrounding a mansion the size of a small town (we're talking tens of millions of dollars here). Never mind the ominous teeth of razor wire that lined the top of the fence (or the likelihood that the fence was itself was electrified). No, it was the 'Bad Dog' (with an exclamation mark, no less!) you had to be worried about should you have the misguided notion you should climb it. I thought it was trendy for rich folk to have teacup poodles and chihuahuas? No? I didn't test the theory. Or maybe this was just their way of shaming the family pet, who had recently misbehaved - stealing a pie from the window ledge?

Not sure what dope thought of this one, but it's certainly a clever (sharp, rather than blunt?) and snicker-worthy name for a burrito shop. Care for one? Take a flour tortilla, some rice, cheese and, for a vegetable, some grass? Great if you've got the munchies, I suppose. If it catches your attention, though, it's obviously a successful form of marketing, regardless of the insinuation.

Snicker. He said "Church". Yeah, yeah, okay, fine, I'll give you that the seamen joke is the oldest one going. Still, I think it was the part about the "Confident Captain" that made gffl and me laugh. That or we're really just twelve-year-olds. Tough to tell. Then again, it's hard to picture Blackbeard sailing the gnarly seas, pillaging from the masses and having to head back to shore for Sunday service. Confidently, of course.

Just a great name for a toy store. Period.