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[[File:coh-pwnshop.jpg|link=City of Heroes|frame|Ha! ''Pawned''!]]
{{quote|''"So if you've got a hankerin',''
''I'll tell you where to go,''
''Just look for the busted neon sign''
''That flashes....Ea{{color|silver|t}} a{{color|silver|t}} {{color|silver|J}}oe's"''
|'''The Folksmen''', "Old Joe's Place", ''[[A Mighty Wind]]''}}
A seemingly regular sign (often neon) that, with letters broken or removed, portrays a different meaning. This can be caused by coincidence, or it can be intentional vandalism.
Often used to create or highlight an unintended innuendo.
{{examples}}
▲== Anime/Manga ==
* The entire premise of ''[[Aoi House]]'' is that the letter [[Yaoi|"Y" fell off the sign]]. Its [[Spear Counterpart]], ''Uri House'', goes by [[Yuri|the same vein]].
* In ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' Lucy's parents used to work in a guild named "Love & Lucky". One day, the K at the sign at the guild missed, spelling "Love & Lucy". They found it amusing and decided to name their daughter after that.
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Criminal]]'': The [[Bad Guy Bar|Undertown]] bar lost the last letter in its sign sometime in the fifties, and has yet to be fixed in the present day. Everybody calls it the Undertow.
* Last letter on Stabe motel's sign in ''[[Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash]]''.
* "EATS" diner's constantly misspelled sign was a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[The Heckler]]''.
== Film ==
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* The [[Abbott and Costello]] movie ''Who Done It?'' features a shootout on a rooftop. A light bulb-illuminated sign reading "VOTE FOR TOWNSEND PHELPS" gets shot up to read "SEND HELP", then again at the finish of the movie to read "END".
* Tony Hancock's film ''The Punch and Judy Man'', set in a seedy English seaside resort, has a scene where Hancock's title character is shaving just before performing at an important reception at the town hall. His faulty electric shaver shorts out some of the town's illuminations, causing them to spell out insults.
* ''[[Elvira, Mistress of the Dark]]'' has [https://web.archive.org/web/20120508200715/http://www.tangibledreams.net/elvira/media/stills/motd0267.jpg this] [[Not Safe for Work]] accident.
* A variation occurs in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'': The Joker adds an S in front of "[[Put the Laughter In Slaughter|Laughter]] is the Best Medicine" on his trailer.
* Done offscreen with a submarine PA system in ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]''.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Madagascar]]'', Alex makes a giant HELP to alert ships, but the top of the P collapses, turning it into an L.
* In 1980s teen film ''[[Zapped!]]'', the door to
* In ''[[The Rocketeer (film)|The Rocketeer]]'', {{spoiler|a fiery Neville Sinclair}} crashes into the tail end of the famous "Hollywoodland" sign, turning it into the rather more famous "Hollywood" sign.
* ''[[Star Trek: The
* ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'' has a variant on this - Susan, running on the rooftops from the first Gallaxhar robot, goes past a rooftop billboard that presumably advertises accident insurance (the word 'Accident' is very prominent). After slipping off a sloping roof and landing on the street, that billboard is flung past her head and jabbed into a building, with the first few letters 'Accid' still visible. Given the strangely cross-eyed salesman gracing the billboard, this may have been deliberate.
* ''[[Sister Act]] 2'': The name of the classroom, Music Class, frequently has the first two letter of the second word scratched off.
* The last letter of Motel Hello's sign is constantly flickering on and off, providing the [[Title Drop]] for ''[[Motel Hell]]''.
* ''[[The Crow]] 2: City Of Angels'' included a shot of a neon sign reading "Jesus Saves" with only "Save Us" lit up (well, technically that would be "Us Save" unless you're reading from bottom to top).
* A store called "Bootery" is actually renamed "Hooters" during the villain takeover scene from ''[[Shrek|Shrek the Third]]''.
* In ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'', Piglet for some reason has a wooden sign above his front door that is apparently broken, reading "Trespassers Will". According to Piglet, Trespassers Will is his grandfather. The sign, if put together, actually reads [[Fridge Horror|"Trespassers Will]] {{spoiler|[[Fridge Horror|Be Shot!!!"]]}}
* The tailgate of the [[Toy Story (franchise)||Pizza Planet truck]] reads "YO", with most of the letters scratched out. According to the truck's operating manual, the truck is actually manufactured by Gyoza motors.
* Towards the end of ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', the mud-splattered jeep reads "J'''urass'''ic Park".
* In the 2001 remake of ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'', Leo discovers the ape holy site "Ca Li Ma" is, in fact, {{spoiler|derived from a sign that said "'''CA'''UTION: '''LI'''VE ANI'''MA'''LS" aboard his long-crashed ship.}}
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* ''[[Sesame Street]] Presents Follow That Bird'' has the Sleaze Bros. (F)unfair.
* By the end of ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'', the '''STARK''' marquee on the Stark Tower has been reduced to just the '''A'''....for "Avengers".
** Even better: the '''STARK''' was in a [
* Invoked in the song "Old Joe's Place" from the film ''[[A Mighty Wind]]'', as seen in the page quote.
== Jokes ==
* An old joke from the [[Wayne and Shuster]] era: "Labour negotiations have broken down, with management rejecting all of our demands. We have no remaining option. The International Siblinghood of Sign Painters, Local 13, is now officially on strike!" (Workers pick up picket signs, and start marching – STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! Naturally, all of their picket signs [https://www.offthemark.com/cartoon/business-finance/human-resources/1988-01-02 are blank].)
== Literature ==
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* The ALLEN ROAD/ALIEN ROAD street sign in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' spin-off novel ''Warhead''. (And indeed the owner of the house on Allen Road is an alien, although it's never really explained who kept vandalizing the street sign or how they knew.)
* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' has a reference to a gigantic sign reading "SHARE AND ENJOY" (the advertising slogan of the ever-profitable Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Complaints Department). Being too heavy, the sign falls into the underground office block underneath, which is a little unfortunate for the occupants. In the local language the exposed top halves of the letters now appear to read "GO STICK YOUR HEAD IN A PIG".
* A children's story ''G. I. Ant'' describes a group of ants who spot a large house under construction with the eponymous sign out front. They fear that a giant is going to move into that big house, but are greatly relieved when G. I. Ant turns out to be an ant who is building this to house his entire, large extended family.
* George and Harold of ''[[Captain Underpants]]'' vandalize a sign at least [[Once an Episode|once a book]], usually through a combination of rearranging and removing letters. For example, the first book sees them turning a sign outside a florist's shop from "PICK YOUR OWN ROSES" to "PICK OUR NOSES"
** Also done in their comic books. For instance, a sign appears to say "BURY DEAD STUFF HERE", until a lightning bolt knocks over the tree covering the top part of the sign, which includes "[[Came Back Wrong|WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T]]".
* In the Soviet children's book ''The Adventures of Captain Vrungel'' (and its animated adaptation), the titular captain names his yacht "Pobeda" (Russian for "Victory") -- but due to an accident at its launch, the first two letters in the name fall off its stern, making it read "Beda" ("Trouble").
* In one of the ''[[Dear America]]'' books, the main character's cousin comes from a town in Texas called Heart's Bend, except that the B is missing from the sign at the railway station, so it says Heart's end.
* Inverted in ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' by [[Stephen King]] (the last book of the series of the same name); Dandelo {{spoiler|an emotion-eating vampire}} must allow a street sign warning of his presence in anagram form to
* "GLO M OF NI T" from ''[[
* In the [[James Bond]] novel ''[[Moonraker (novel)|Moonraker]]'', Bond sees a neon sign from a viewpoint that partially obscures it: SUMMER S''HELL IS HERE''.
* In ''[[Macdonald Hall|This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!]]'', there's a sign outside Miss Scrimmage's school that reads, "Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies". Miss Scrimmage accidentally shoots it, changing the word "Finishing" to "Fishing".
* The sign for the recreation room in ''[[Holes]]'' actually reads '''W'''REC'''K''' ROOM.
* ''Tongue Fu'', a series of short stories in the ''Whole Earth Epilogue''<ref>the edition of the ''Whole Earth Catalog'' released after ''The Last Whole Earth Catalog''</ref> which start as a parody/update of ''[[Kung Fu]]'', stars a young monk who, due to the circumstances of his conception,<ref>midway between Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the day before the second of those cities was destroyed by nuclear bombing</ref>
* The short lived sitcom version of ''[[The Hot L Baltimore]]''.▼
▲== Live Action TV ==
▲* The short lived sitcom version of ''[[Hot L Baltimore]]''.
* In one episode of ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', the owner of the candy shop across the street sabotages the sign of Ned's pie shop, called "The Pie Hole", to read "The Pie Ho". Olive and Chuck adopt the nickname when they get revenge: [[Insult Backfire|"Don't mess with the Pie Hos!"]]
* Happens to a sign during the season 3 premiere of the sitcom ''Ellen'' when an earthquake hits Los Angeles. A live on-the-scene news reporter refers to the ruined store as "uy The Book", which, is later followed by an elderly customer inquiring about the new Jackie Collins and giving Ellen the advice of "you know, you should really get a new name, 'uy The Boo' doesn't tell you what (the store) is".
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* ''[[Kids Incorporated]]'' takes place in a club called The Palace, but the first A on the neon sign is missing, so it's just The Place.
* Parodied in ''[[Between the Lions]]'' were a flickering sign outside of Sam Spud's office literally says "Flicker Flicker" (or "Flash Flash", depending on the episode.)
* In one episode of ''[[That '70s Show]]'', Eric, Hyde and Fez vandalize an out-of-business muffler shop, covering the "ler" on every occurrence of "muffler" they see. The next morning Red (who just happened to buy it) was puzzled to see the ads on the walls of the shop changed to "Winterize your muff", "People complaining about loud muff?" etc.
** The ultimate awkward moment is when Kitty finds out. She doesn't know the sexual meaning behind "muff", thinking they're talking about ear muffs. This leads to some hilarious moments where Kitty [[Innocent Innuendo|talks about the things she did to the teens' muffs as a child]].
* The pilot episode of ''[[Teen Angel]]'' featured a P.A. anouncement requesting that the first two letters from a "Class of '98" sign be returned. The recently deceased Marty then proudly shows Steve the two letters, knowing full well he could never be caught due to his being dead.
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* One episode of ''[[iCarly]]'' involves a lightboard sign (which originally said "PLEASE GO ONLINE TO ICARLY.COM") malfunctioning, leaving just the letters "P E E ON CARL".
** Officer Carl is not pleased.
* ''[[The Benny Hill Show]]'' loved this trope. One example is a group of priests entering an building with a sign that says "Tea Bar", but once they enter the other letters light up revealing the true name to be "Striptease Cabaret".
* In ''[[Green Wing]]'' Alan Statham had trouble with people vandalising his badge, it should read "Alan Statham Consultant Radiologist" but on the word Consultant someone blacked out the letters O N S L T A.
* In the India Special episode of ''[[Top Gear]]'', the trio's attempt to promote "BRITISH I.T. FOR YOUR COMPANY" to Indian companies went pear-shaped when the sign ripped in two between the second 'I' and the 'S' in "BRITISH". On the opposite site, "EAT ENGLISH MUFFINS" also had the "INS" at the end torn off.
** In an earlier episode they had to put sponsorship decals on their entry in a touring car race, but due to BBC regulations the companies had to be fake. They chose adverts for "PENISTON OILS" and "LARSEN'S BISCUITS", carefully positioning them for maximum juvenile humour when the car doors were open.
* The [[Discovery Channel]] [[Reality Show]] ''[[Monster Garage]]'' invoked this trope with its animated opening showing a neon sign for "DAMON STERN'S GARAGE" flickering and finally settling into "MON STER GARAGE" as lightning flashes and thunder rolls behind it.
== Music ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110519211313/http://carlau.com/music-17.html "The Guy Who Changes The Light bulbs"] by Carla Ulbrich:
{{quote|
When up ahead you clearly see a sign that says "LE HOUSE"
And whatever may befall me may I never sink so low
As to have to give it up for food and become a WAFFLE HO }}
* The cover of ''Push Barman To Open Old Wounds'' by Belle And Sebastian depicts a sign at a pub that's been altered to read that way (it originally said "Push Bar To Open").
* Similarly, the cover of Sebadoh's ''Harmacy'' is a picture of a pharmacy sign where the "p" fell off.
== Theatre ==
* The title of Lanford Wilson's play ''[[The Hot L Baltimore]]''.▼
▲* The title of Lanford Wilson's play ''The Hot L Baltimore''.
* ''Jersey Boys'' has a sign that displays F''OUR'' SEA''SONS'', which when the broken lights are fixed, becomes the name of the protagonists' music group.
* In ''[[Guys and Dolls]]'', the Mission's cross sign is also used for the T in HOT BOX. Without it, it becomes HO BOX.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Snatcher]]'', there's a sign in Central Plaza saying GR'''EAT ME'''ALS. It becomes a plot point later on when Gillian sees a sign for Hospital OLEEN, which turns out to be {{spoiler|a broken sign reading 'QUEENS'}}.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has
** The "destroyed future" map has {{spoiler|P}}A{{spoiler|RA}}GON {{spoiler|CIT}}Y HALL.
* The "Hotel Hell" level in ''[[Duke Nukem]] 3D''.
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* In ''[[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle]]'', when {{spoiler|Travis and Sylvia have sex}} the NO MORE HEROES Motel sign falls apart, leaving MORE ERO.
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] 2'' features churches with neon signs that say JESUS SAVES. The letters flicker to reveal that they're save points (U SAVE).
** Speaking of ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'', there's a mission in ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas|San Andreas]]'' that ends with a shot of a billboard, showing a girl drinking a [[Visual Innuendo|white-colored soda]], with the words "A taste of what's to come!" Your out-of-control car crashes through it, changing it to "A taste of come!"
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' has the town of Arefu, whose name originates from a sign saying "{{spoiler|c}}arefu{{spoiler|l}}".
** [[Fallout: New Vegas]] has the town of Novac. The town's main building is an old roadside motel. The neon sign is mostly destroyed, except for the letters NOVAC in the NO VACANCY part of the sign.
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* In ''[[Death Smiles|Deathsmiles IIX]]'', the ferris wheel at the entrace of the [[Circus of Fear]] [[Bonus Level]] has a sign that reads "Hello-Land". The "o" doesn't seems to be working, leaving us with the true meaning of the stage.
* A major location in [[Deus Ex]] was the {{spoiler|Hil}}ton Hotel. Half the sign over the door was out.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' had an example in the Kesandru storyline, where the house is choked with an unusual number of ghosts: cryptic ghostly graffiti on the wall says "NOTHING DEAD HERE", and it isn't until a character moves the furniture next to it that they realize it was in fact the partially obscured "NOTHING DEAD HERE {{spoiler|LEAVES}}".
** Another example in the same storyline involves a sign reading 'Brie Meighsaton', (the name of one of the ghosts trapped in the house) being damaged, and Torg puts the M back upsidedown. "Brie Weighsaton". Riff says "Not cool!", Torg asks what a ghost is going to do about it, and she scares him into hiding under his bed. {{spoiler|Behold the power of cheese.}}
* ''[[Freefall]]'': Florence Ambrose, soaked, chilled, and bleeding, searches for a doctor, and sees [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00350.htm a broken sign] reading "[[Mad Doctor|mad Veterinarian]]". Fortunately, it turns out {{spoiler|"mad" is the last syllable of the vet's name, Winston Thurmad, and he's a '''very''' nice person}}.
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' knows [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=912 how to label its doors]: this one says "Used Instruments", though it's actually [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=911 "Cursed Instruments", and the story of the haunted mandolin]).
== Western Animation ==
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** "PUB IC LIBRARY."
* ''[[Futurama]]''
** The first episode after the show returned from cancellation had Planet Express getting shut down by the "BOX Network", but the "B" on the sign was flickering and sometimes appeared as an "F". (This began an extended [[Take That]]/[[Biting the Hand Humor]] sequence towards [[
** In another episode, Bender, wanting to be remembered after he is gone, spray paints "Bender lives large and kicks butt" on the side of a building. As soon as he finishes the building is demolished and then reads "Bender licks butt". To [[Incredibly Lame Pun|top it off]], above the words were a picture of Bender standing with his hands on his hips, which fell into itself to resemble a human's legs and posterior.
* In ''[[Veggie Tales|Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie]]'', the main characters come across a restaurant with a neon sign spelling out 'seafoo.' After the characters muse on whether seafoo is like tofu, the letter 'd' flickers on.
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* One episode of ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'' was actually about D.W. accidentally misplacing her backpack at the swimming pool and later ending up with an identical backpack reading T'''OM'''MY TIB'''BLE'''. She then starts to think that someone named "Omble" actually stole her backpack.
* In one episode of ''[[Bobby's World]]'', Uncle Ted has a boat named The Sea Sp{{spoiler|r}}it{{spoiler|e}}.
== Real Life ==
* Novelis, an industrial aluminium manufacturer, was once prone to deliberately extinguishing some letters on its signage during the holiday season, leaving the name as "No_el".
* For most of the 1990s, a self-storage business on Route 1 in North Brunswick, NJ had a sign on the side of the building facing the highway made of large plastic letters which originally read "PUBLIC SELF-STORAGE", but which had lost enough characters to read "PUBIC ELF RAGE".
* The [[National Lampoon]] print magazine used to run a "true facts issue" which encouraged readers to send photos, like the "_IFFY RESTAURANT" sign on a Jiffy Grill, which were inadvertently humorous.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
▲[[Category:Signs of Disrepair]]
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