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Misreading

I am well aware that our brain often processes things through our particular lens.

We were driving by a billboard that read something akin to this…

TheD&Cisin

Oh, I thought, after all these signs advertising the hospital as a beacon for those suffering a heart attack or experiencing cancer,* I’m glad they’re also touching on pregnancy loss with this big billboard about D&Cs.  I wonder how many parents have had to have a conversation about D&Cs with their kids due to this sign.  Just as well since we had to explain what a “gentleman’s club” was to the twins a few miles back.  I wonder if it’s a problem; if local doctors are performing D&Cs in their offices and this hospital wants you to know “the D&C is in” their hospital.  The D&C is in Big Local Hospital.

“Don’t you think that’s progressive for this area?” I asked Josh as we drove past.  “The D&C is in Big Local Hospital.”

“Uh… Mel, that says ‘The Doc is in’.  It’s an ad for the local hospital stating ‘The Doc is in’.”

“Oh.  So that’s not a plus sign?”

Ooops.

* Considering it’s the only hospital for several hours, I’m not sure why they needed to advertise with that many billboards.  I mean, it’s not as if Farmer Bob is running his own cardiac clinic out of his barn.  We get it, Big Local Hospital.  You’re where we go if we’re sick.

11 comments

1 Natalie { 08.18.13 at 9:12 am }

Oh my. I saw the same thing as you. Why would they put the plus sign in the middle? Filters, indeed!

2 Christine { 08.18.13 at 9:23 am }

If it’s the hospital I think it is, the plus sign (or cross?) refers to its name. No?

But I sympathise. Or maybe they’re subtly reaching out to a general audience and a more specific one at the same time. 🙂

3 Megan { 08.18.13 at 1:46 pm }

Hah, I thought it said D.O.C, like Department of Corrections. Clearly I’ve been watching too much Netflix. 😀

4 Blanche { 08.18.13 at 2:12 pm }

They may also be playing off the new “Doc McStuffins” show on Disney Junior. “The Doc is In” is one of her phrases.

5 PNG { 08.18.13 at 2:39 pm }

In Finland we normally have three letter register signs in our cars. Guess if I have ever missed any of the IVF-ones?

6 a { 08.18.13 at 6:00 pm }

Is it a Christian hospital? That plus sign might be something else entirely…in which case, D&Cs would be unlikely.

7 It Is What It Is { 08.18.13 at 6:56 pm }

Even though I didn’t read it that way, it is an AWFUL billboard. They need a new advertising company.

(For the record, I read it as “The Doc is in” but also saw the DC as pertaining, well, to DC.)

8 persnickety { 08.18.13 at 9:02 pm }

Department of corrections or (much more fun) Department of Conservation (new Zealand).
As to why advertising- someone in the senior executive has just read an article about how important branding is and/or has a friend/relative in the outdoor marketing business.
I am always fascinated by marketing choices. A resort my family visits once a year was taken over by a mining billionaire. The signs went from tasteful eco signs to Bold black sans serif on a bright yellow background. very mining safety mode

9 Alexicographer { 08.19.13 at 12:10 am }

Huh (I, too, am assuming that’s a cross and that the Big Local Hospital may not even provide D&Cs?). My workplace has a big initiative widely known by its initials, which are DE, which always mystifies me because — really, what do we have to do with donor egg? Nothing, that’s what. And, yes 3-letter strings are also part of our license plates, as (sort of) for PNG. So every now and then I see PGD, FSH, FET, or TSH (the last is a stretch, but my hypothyroidism was part of my IF), and … yeah.

10 Jessie { 08.19.13 at 1:09 am }

Alexicographer, I keep seeing PMS starting license plates here in Georgia!

11 loribeth { 08.21.13 at 8:40 am }

I do stuff like this all the time.

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
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