Best sign ever?

Somehow, I KNEW you were going to post that!!!

Always have someone check your French when you are not a native speaker. I think what they were angling for was "la petite mort," a euphemism for "orgasm" more used in English than in French, but what they got was "the little corpse."

@2:

Given that the phrase in question appears next to what appear to be three stylized coffins, "the little corpse" may have been intentional.

If there are three of them, it would be "les petits morts." But it's not impossible.

Down the street the foreskin fair was cancelled due to unforeseen circumcisions.

'"...but what they got was "the little corpse."'

I thought that would be "le petit cadavre."

@4 Well, the comments at Orac's source indicate the sign is from Atlanta, and a bit of google-foo finds this: http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/UrbanExplorer/HotSpot?oid=o…
Hopefully the sign above the store with only a single coffin satisfies your inner L'Academie Francaise.

On a similar note, from the Astrological Magazine:

"We regret to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the publication of The Astrological Magazine will cease with the December 2007 issue."

I blogged on this back in 2008. I initially thought it to be an urban legend, but checked their website, it seemed legit.

Awesome!

Very Far Side.

-r.c.

"Le mort" means dead man, dead person or dead body, depending on context. The store's URL is "little female corpse," which still leaves me wondering if they meant "la mort." But the store seems to sell goth gear, including erotica, so maybe instead of bad French it is sophisticated French wordplay that leaves goths rolling in the aisles.

http://www.petitemorte.com/

Ah, but if they'd put up a sign saying psychic fair cancelled due to foreseen circumstances, then the police or somebody would be after them for taking in advance bookings in the full knowledge it wasn't going to happen.

Ornage Lantern, shouldn't that be unforeskin circumstances?

no, it's unforeskin circumcisions.. Which, i suppose is redundant as well as repetitive..

@RobNYNY1957 -- I vote either wordplay or simple alternative to "petit mort", as that domain name appears to have been parked on.

@Dave #7

And located in Little Five Points, no less, probably the major hub of all things alt in ATL.

Ya'll drop in fer all yer Goth gear! Ya hear?

That reminds me of way back when I worked for a newspaper, sometimes filling on the desk. Every time a local psychic group announced a meeting, which we ran in little fillers, I wanted to headline it "Psychic group predicts meeting". But they wouldn't let me.

Maybe the owner's name is Mortimer, and he's short.

Now that is very cool. It will take them a while to live that one down.

It's priceless!

I assume everyone's already linked you to Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1836#comic

That was good for a coffee sinus wash.

But isn't it legally risky (i.e. like malpractice) for these particular professionals to admit unforseen circumstances?

In Kitchener, Ontario, there was a psychic named Gina (in the mid- to late-80s). She used to have a big advertising sign outside her shop saying, Gina Physic. It stayed there for many a month. Maybe she doubled as an aerobic instructor? :)
--dan

Very funny sign...BTW, speaking of the french term on the sign, in French an orgasm is called "Le petit mort" or the little death.

Oh my goodness this cracked me up...love me some good irony ;)

Without having any great french linguistics skills I'm pretty sure it is saying "The little death" refering to an orgasm

@chainman & PW Hendon: Did either of you even read the earlier posts regarding the French language usage, or do you both just write comments with utter disregard for the entire human race going on around you? Oblivious, meet Clueless. Clueless, Oblivious. Now go take these earplugs and blindfolds and go play in the street or something. Have fun you two!

I thought 'le petit mort' wasn't the orgasm itself, but the period of collapse/exhaustion just afterwards - the little death - from which one hopefully quickly recovered.

@Dude: Unfortunately chainman and PW Hendon will never read your scolding.

ROTFPMFHOL!

Classic :)