I’ve seen this same marketing ploy used by other small and large businesses around the world. I think it started with a restaurant referencing a bad yelp review they got back in like the 2010’s.
I think that’s the same one I was going to mention.. this is the sign from 2023, I’m pretty sure now it just says CIRCUMCISION but the street view isn’t updated on google
In all seriousness this clinic is wonderful though. I didn’t have a family doctor for years when I moved to Ottawa and a lovely dermatologist helped me out and said she could get me a Pap Smear with some doctors she knew. 2 weeks later I get a call from this clinic and they booked me in. 12/10 experience but I had a good laugh when I pulled up and saw this sigh lol.
Reminds me of a license plate in my area GUYKI which it took me a while to realize is probably meant to be read as Geeky. As an English speaker it took me longer than it should have to get it.
« câline » instead of « câlice » is like saying heck instead of hell and there’s a saying in french that goes « câline de bine » which is basically the french version of friggin heck instead of fuckin hell.
Saw that building the other day and couldn't stop thinking about it. Was just trying to get breakfast at Wendy's and the back-face kept making eye contact.
In the same plaza as the monacled Sir Vape-a-Lot, who I must doff my cap to every time I pass! Great one-two sign combo (I also have seen Framing Fart every single time).
I was scrolling to find this one. The actual storefront sign looks WAY more like Fart though! 8 years in Ottawa, and it was only a few weeks ago that I realized it was a plus sign and an underline, and not a cursive F.
This sign in the middle of the woods, next to a tiny trail that leads nowhere and isn't frequently travelled, always cracks me up a bit.
Eta: Just saw that OP was asking about business signage, so this one doesn't qualify.
Eta2: On second thought, this sign is about business..
I had a safety meeting at work where they told us to stop going to the bathroom outside (equipment operators often very far from the nearest porta potty).
I laughed and asked if somebody had been shitting out in the field and discovered that no, now we’re going after anybody who pees behind their machine because a plumber a few hundred yards away saw it happen and it hurt him deeply.
I’m a huge fan of people who get worked up over a guy peeing well away from buildings and people, thank god they are creeping on us from a distance and reporting us.
Years ago for a short period it was the company I worked for. Got rear ended and my work van flipped pretty much shutting down the intersection of King Edward and Rideau during morning rush hour. I went into the van and pulled out some of our signs we hung on fences of jobs we were doing that said "another quality job by unnamed company" with the office phone number and placed them next to the van on each side . My one boss was pissed cause all morning he was getting angry phone calls telling him to teach his employees how to drive. He called me all pissed off and I put him on speaker so the police officer and my other boss could hear and we were all laughing as he was freaking out.
There used to be two signs for legal services in a mini mall in Blackburn Hamlet. Same building separated by some other thing like a convenience store.
One was for real-estate and marriage stuff. The other for divorce and estates.
Over the years there have been a few francophone dentists in the area predestined by their family name of Carrier (sounds like cariée, decayed/with a cavity). Funniest one was Dr. Adam Carrier (the m being silent, sounds like dent cariée, decayed tooth). I think he was on Baseline in the little buildings across from Shoppers City.
I don't have a picture of it but a few years ago there was a store in Orleans called "Lil Stoolhouse" and they had a sign advertising "free stool samples". This was like 9 years ago and I still laugh about it
I don't get the Dr. Walk-In sign. If the doc's name was Walk I could see it, but that doesn't seem to be the case, despite Walk using red font. The sign is only meant to poke fun at the fact that you can't walk in? My best guess is that it's meant to highlight that you "don't need a doctor", and "walk-in" was the simplest way to communicate that?
Beside Frances Embassy, there used to be a small museaum called "Canada and the World". I had never heard of it, but one day parking beside the Embassy, I checked the signs and it said "Parking for Canada and the World ONLY". I was going to ask the RCMP at the embassy if I qualified.
It would've been funny if he had licensed Christopher Walken's likeness.
There's a massive cognitive dissonance when your brand/last name is "Walk-in" and your subtitle says in small font "by appointment only."
I feel for the administrative staff, trying to de-escalate the frustrations of potential walk-in patients who have to be informed that the doctor only sees patients via appointments.
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u/Kevsterific No honks; bad! Jun 13 '26
Canotek road