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July 13, 2025
Buildings/Housing/ParksPets (Dogs, Cats, Horses)

“Peddlers Welcome: Dog food is expensive” (sign)

"Trespassers Are Welcome: Dog food is getting to be expensive" is a jocular warning sign that has been printed on many images. The implication is that a dog will eat trespassers.…

May 10, 2018
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Peer pressure as an adult is seeing your neighbor mow their lawn”

Is peer pressure involved in mowing lawns? "When my neighbor mows his lawn, it makes me feel like I need to mow mine. This must be that peer pressure crap Nancy Reagan warned me about"…

September 20, 2015
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“People are dying to get in” (cemetery joke)

An old cemetery joke goes: Q. Why do they build a fence around a graveyard?A. Because people are just dying to get in. "As the saying goes, people must be just dying to get in (the cemetery --…

August 3, 2021
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“People say elevator music is boring. It’s actually very next-level”

"Elevator music" (background music) is usually popular, conservative music, but a joke has it that the music is "next level." "I like listening to elevator music as i take…

May 13, 2015
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Please don’t throw your cigarette ends on the floor. The cockroaches are getting cancer”

"Please don't throw your cigarette ends on the floor. The cockroaches are getting cancer" is a jocular instruction that has been printed on many signs. “Please don’t throw…

June 11, 2022
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Pool party at my house, bring the pool then leave”

"Pool party at my house. Bring your own pool" (or "Pool party at my house, bring the pool then leave") is a jocular saying that has been printed on many images. "RT…

June 10, 2022
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Pool party at my house. Bring your own pool”

"Pool party at my house. Bring your own pool" (or "Pool party at my house, bring the pool then leave") is a jocular saying that has been printed on many images. "RT…

April 10, 2020
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Porn gives people an unrealistic expectation of how quickly a plumber will get to your house”

Pornography is often accused of giving young people unrealistic expectations about sex. A joke gives a twist to this. "Porn is so unrealistic, there's no way you'd ever get a plumber…

December 13, 2020
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Posted a photo of my clean house and it was flagged and removed as ‘fake news’”

"Posted a photo of my clean house and it was flagged and removed as 'fake news'" is a jocular line that has been printed on many images. That is, it's fake that the house…

October 9, 2015
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Price it low, watch it go; price it high, watch it die” (real estate adage)

"Quote it low, watch it go" and "Quote it high, watch it die" are popular real estate adages in Australia and New Zealand, where real estate is sold at auction. If a price is…

January 8, 2025
Buildings/Housing/ParksGovernment/Law/Military/Religion /Health

“Property tax is serfdom”

"Property tax is serfdom" is a saying that has been printed on many images. The saying means that if you have to pay tax on your property (such as your home), then you do not really own…

March 8, 2023
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Protected by FAFO fuck around and find out security system”

"Protected by fuck around and find out surveillance" is a saying that has been printed on many signs. "Protected by Fuck around and find out surveillance" (shown on a sign) was…

March 8, 2023
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Protected by fuck around and find out home security”

"Protected by fuck around and find out surveillance" is a saying that has been printed on many signs. "Protected by Fuck around and find out surveillance" (shown on a sign) was…

March 7, 2023
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Protected by fuck around and find out surveillance”

"Protected by fuck around and find out surveillance" is a saying that has been printed on many signs. "Protected by Fuck around and find out surveillance" (shown on a sign) was…

June 25, 2015
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Prune roses before Presidents Day and azaleas before the Fourth of July”

"The old saying is that you cut your roses back before President's Day and your azaleas before the Fourth of July" was cited in 2015. It's not certain when the two gardening…

August 12, 2019
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Pun enters a room, kills 10 people. Pun in, 10 dead”

"A guy walks into a bar..." is a typical form of what has been called the "bar joke." A pun version is: "A pun walks into a bar, ten people die on the spot. Pun in, ten…

October 19, 2025
Buildings/Housing/ParksHolidays/Events/Parades

“Putting up the scariest decoration of all: a 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 sign”

So many people have put up "Live, Laugh, Love" signs in their homes that it has become clichéd. This Halloween joke was posted on X/Twitter meghan on October 19, 2024: "Putting up…

July 17, 2013
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Raggy rope, don’t be a dope” (poison ivy adage)

Poison ivy vines appear "hairy" and "raggy." The rhyme "Hairy rope, don't be a dope" was cited in print in 1996 and "Raggy rope, don't be a dope!"…

August 22, 2018
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Ramps are just boneless stairs”

Ramps have been compared to stairs. "Are ramps just boneless stairs??" was posted on Twitter by Trevor on July 12, 2017. "Ramps are just boneless stairs" was posted on Twitter…

February 10, 2020
Buildings/Housing/Parks

“Reading won’t solve your problems. But then again, neither will housework”

"Reading won't solve your problems. But then again, neither will housework" is a jocular saying that has been printed on many images. The implication is that reading is more fun than…

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BARRY POPIK is a contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of American Regional English, Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Yale Book of Quotations and Dictionary of Modern Proverbs. Since 1990 he has also been a regular contributor to Gerald Cohen's Comments on Etymology.

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