Today, I'll share some of the slogans, posters, bumper stickers, etc, I've come across, some going way back. Not all are good, hence this posting's heading. Also, I'll update this list periodically, rather than create new postings on this theme.
"Speak without fear" -- a banner I spotted recently at a community club. I guess you've got to be a Singaporean to really find this funny. Anyway, it was an advertisment for a toastmasters' club at the premises.
"Be like dad. Keep mum" -- this is a classic, and only the Brits, renowned for their dry humour, can come up with it. It was a World War 2 poster reminding citizens not to talk carelessly in public especially on security related matters. The walls may have ears, after all.
"Teachers never lose their class" -- seen on a mug.
"We aim to please. So please aim" -- seen inside a men's toilet.
"Walk this way" -- a common road sign advisory to pedestrians when there is obstructing roadwork. But the directional arrows <----> are not helpful.
"Camel nuts" -- seen on a truck. Camel is a local company that sells nuts (the kind you eat).
"Yankee go home. And take me with you" -- its origin is uncertain but I first knew about this one as an "unusual" protestor's placard in the Philippines in the early 1990s, when negotiations between Manila and Washington over the future of American bases in the Philippines were going to collapse, and the US said it would then pull out its military presence altogether.
"300 years in a convent, 50 years in Hollywood" -- a typical tongue-in-cheek Filipino depiction of Spanish and then American rule over the Philippines.
"Kiss my ash" -- I visited the Philippines not long after the 1991 Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption. Ash and lahar were everywhere. I bought a Tee-shirt with this slogan and gave it to my nephew. Hmmm, I wonder why he never wore it?
"Drive like lightning. Crash like thunder" -- this was actually a Singapore Traffic Police slogan way back in the 1980s, I think.
"Stop at two" -- this was the early Singapore family planning message.
"Have three, or more, if you can afford it" -- the family planning message proved too successful! Singaporeans were stopping at zero! Hence, this new message.
"Go forth and multiply" -- No, I have not seen this as a slogan yet. But I think it would serve as a catchy sign outside a mathematics department.
"May the floss be with you" -- Dentist's greeting? (A play on "May the Force be with you," from the Star War movie series).
P.S. Ever wondered how the slang word "dorky" came about? The slang meaning is of course "stupid, foolish or inept". I am told one possible source of inspiration is "dork" -- the blue whale's penis, which is the largest among mammals!
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