Most bathroom graffiti is banal, boring, and repetitive. But every now and then, I've run across a scribbled saying or quote that has made me laugh, or simply scratch my head and go "Huh?"
Two come to mind right off. This one was written on the wall of one of the men's room stalls on my high school campus:
"Stacy was a maiden pure
Who juggled chunks of furniture.
And people came in droves and scores,
To watch Miss Perry drop her drawers!"
The other one was on a bathroom wall in the Social Sciences building of my college:
"Sing a song of vengeance,
Bodies in the mud.
Dark wings slowly beating,
Blades red-slick with blood.
Tell a tale of anguish,
Hearts are broke in two.
Soul-sick soldiers waiting,
The fighting starts anew."
I'd love to know where that latter bit came from; it's stuck with me for over 30 years now.
So what are some of your favorite bits of graffiti?
Not witty or anything, but there was a bridge over one of the UK's main motorways, and on that bridge was spray-painted some guys name followed by "is gay." I've forgotten his real name over the years, but that graffiti was there for something like 30 or 40 years. Given the number of people who travelled that road every day, it is estimated over 90% of the population of the UK had at one time or another saw this slur.
One of the TV comedy sketch shows even did a skit about it where aliens turn up on earth and encounter this guy. When he says his name he gets "Oh, you are that gay bloke!"
Graffiti isn't very creative in my neck of the woods. We get ACAB scribbled everywhere.
there's an area near my town's centre which used to basically be a known hang out for drug addicts, which the council has recently cleaned up and revamped...someone has graffitti'd "THIS IS A DRUG FREE ZONE" in large letters on one of the walls. I've never graffitti'd anything in my life but every time I walk past it I'm so tempted to write "FREE DRUGS?? YAY!!" underneath...
Quote from: Alex on May 09, 2020, 02:23:59 AM
Not witty or anything, but there was a bridge over one of the UK's main motorways, and on that bridge was spray-painted some guys name followed by "is gay." I've forgotten his real name over the years, but that graffiti was there for something like 30 or 40 years. Given the number of people who travelled that road every day, it is estimated over 90% of the population of the UK had at one time or another saw this slur.
One of the TV comedy sketch shows even did a skit about it where aliens turn up on earth and encounter this guy. When he says his name he gets "Oh, you are that gay bloke!"
that's "M Khan is bent". Mary Whitehouse Experience... they did 'history today' on it as well. "See that M Khan....that's you that is". :teddyr:
Quote from: zombie no.one on May 09, 2020, 02:48:03 AM
there's an area near my town's centre which used to basically be a known hang out for drug addicts, which the council has recently cleaned up and revamped...someone has graffitti'd "THIS IS A DRUG FREE ZONE" in large letters on one of the walls. I've never graffitti'd anything in my life but every time I walk past it I'm so tempted to write "FREE DRUGS?? YAY!!" underneath...
Quote from: Alex on May 09, 2020, 02:23:59 AM
Not witty or anything, but there was a bridge over one of the UK's main motorways, and on that bridge was spray-painted some guys name followed by "is gay." I've forgotten his real name over the years, but that graffiti was there for something like 30 or 40 years. Given the number of people who travelled that road every day, it is estimated over 90% of the population of the UK had at one time or another saw this slur.
One of the TV comedy sketch shows even did a skit about it where aliens turn up on earth and encounter this guy. When he says his name he gets "Oh, you are that gay bloke!"
that's "M Khan is bent". Mary Whitehouse Experience... they did 'history today' on it as well. "See that M Khan....that's you that is". :teddyr:
Well remembered there. :thumbup:
There's a stop sign going into Paw Paw and under the word STOP is ' me before I kill again.' :bouncegiggle:
nice.. we have a couple of STOP (Hammer Time!) signs round here
Quote from: Alex on May 09, 2020, 02:54:33 AM
Well remembered there. :thumbup:
I used to love that show! would probably look quite tame now but at the time was pretty radical I thought (as a 14 yr old :smile:)
Quote from: zombie no.one on May 09, 2020, 03:51:46 AM
nice.. we have a couple of STOP (Hammer Time!) signs round here
Quote from: Alex on May 09, 2020, 02:54:33 AM
Well remembered there. :thumbup:
I used to love that show! would probably look quite tame now but at the time was pretty radical I thought (as a 14 yr old :smile:)
I am now wondering if your real name is M Khan though.
it is...and I've spent my whole life trying to convince people I'm not that M Khan.
- something tells me Indy had slightly more highbrow hopes for this thread than the way it's panned out so far.
Shortly after Princess Diana died, a graffito appeared in on a bridge in Johannesburg saying DIANA LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS WE LOVE YOU. What made it amazing is how high off the ground that bridge is and how neat the letters were: still don't know how the artists did that.
A filmmaker friend of mine came across a weird piece of urban graffiti which piqued his interest so much, he decided to use it as the title of his next film. MAGIC IS ALIVE MY FRIENDS. :teddyr:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0323146/ (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0323146/)
Quote from: zombie no.one on May 09, 2020, 05:27:40 AM
- something tells me Indy had slightly more highbrow hopes for this thread than the way it's panned out so far.
I can't remember the latin words, but I did once see some latin written in a toilet. I got a friend to translate it for me. It turned out to read "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Funnily enough, I could see Indy as one of the old guys on History Today... Shame he will have no idea what we are talking about there.
When I was eleven I used to take a bus to the downtown library, and in route passed a school for the blind which had a bench out front on which someone had painted:
"If you can read this you don't go to school here."
I was outraged til I found out it was done by a student there who was a class clown, it'd been there forever, and the blind students apparently thought it was funny.
Well, let's not stop the low-brow graffiti that has touched our hearts! I don't think this building stands anymore, but for many years there was a tall brick building in Chicago that was once a book store that just had the word "BOOKS" painted in big white letters on a black background on the top side of the building. Some creative visionary cleverly painted a white line on the top and bottom of the "K" so it said "BOOBS".
I bet that increased their footfall.
my front wall used to get graffiti'd quite regularly which was annoying. never anything amusing/profound, just random scribbles done by bored teens
luckily the council here has a 'graffiti hotline' and every time it happened I'd report it and it would always be painted over within 24 hours. hasn't happened in years thankfully. (except now that I've said that it'll probably happen again tonight).
if anyone fancies watching a documentary on graffiti then EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP was more entertaining than I thought it would be...