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Slow animals crossing


Once, many years ago, when I was working in a junk-mail mill, I got some joy out of a simple sign just about a mile away from the site of this employment. The sign, on a smallish road, warned drivers that racoons and other small critters were crossing thereabouts, so it would be wise to proceed with caution.

Or, at least, that is what I imagine was the point of posting the sign.

It said simply, "Slow animals crossing".

I found it joyful because I would always say to myself while passing, "Gee, I guess the smarter animals cross a little further down the road." 

I guess we're supposed to imagine a punctuation point after the word "slow" to foreclose such an interpretation. 

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  1. HenryMarch 27, 2026 at 6:19 AM

    Without punctuation after "Slow," I would have understood "slow" to refer not to a lack of intelligence but to a lack of speed. I'd think that it was warning that turtles, for example, were crossing.

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