Did it really need to be said?
by Chris MacDonald
Here’s one of those often-fascinating custom-printed-after-the-fact signs. It was posted in a building housing professional offices, in a town in Virginia.
The sign is baffling, at least to those of us who don’t happen to know the history. I always love looking at signs, and imagining the day when finally someone just couldn’t take it any more and felt compelled to word-process and print a sign…and then tape it to a wall with blue masking tape.
I also love the extravagant politeness, in which I detect no sarcasm nor suspect any.
(Thanks to Thea E. Smith for sending the picture.)
Normative Signs: The Poetry of "Ought" 
I know this sign, and I found out why it’s there–and it actually makes sense!
It’s an office condo, with a dozen or so offices. One of them is occupied by a tutoring company that has groups of high school kids in most weekday afternoons for group classes.
You’ve probably guessed where this is going: After class, the kids are waiting around for their parents to come pick them up, and were horsing around and leaving marks on the walls.
Now, whether the sign is likely to help or not is another question…