• Depress_Mode@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Genie, for my first wish, I wish that everyone who has ever seen this photo or ever will can just look at the stickers right there on the bumper and see that this is just a joke about being obsessed with dirt bikes, not any kind of deadly pathogen or anything.

    Seriously, it’s sad how many people over the years have taken the phrase written there far too literally.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      With no context, how are we meant to take what looks like a warning sign?

      What does “cry wolf” mean?

      • Depress_Mode@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The context is right there on the trailer.

        “Look twice” is a phrase to raise driver awareness of motorcycle safety. Right below it, though kind of hard to see, it says “[MO]TORCYCLES”

        Then there’s the Yamaha sticker. They make motorcycles (and musical instruments lol).

        Finally, you think some deadly pathogen would just be transported in a flimsy-ass consumer grade trailer? How about some Occam’s razor?

        To “cry wolf” is to unnecessarily raise the hue and cry (either on purpose, or through naïveté), something those taking this phrase literally are far more guilty of than the owner of this trailer.

        If I say “Watch out, don’t hurt yourself thinking too hard,” that, like the above, would be understood as a joke even though it takes the form of a warning. It’s not my fault if you freak yourself out worrying about literally hurting yourself by thinking too hard.