While governmental agencies aren’t exactly known for their sense of humor, accidental or otherwise, we occasionally get a nice surprise, like the road sign above. It reads, simply enough, “Feeling sleepy while driving / When will you take a break? / How about now!”
“Hunh? What’s so funny about that,” you ask.
While the sign we showed you earlier this week was hilarious for its beautiful malapropism, today’s sign is funny for its Internet culture reference.
You see, the phrase “ima desho,” or “How about now,” comes from an unintentionally humorous commercial by the university-entrance-exam prep school Toshin High School. If you have a moment, watch the commercial below. The gentleman at about 00:20 is Hayashi Sensei, delivering the now-popular phrase “So, when will you do it? How about now!”
The phrase struck a chord with Internet users and has taken on a life of its own, spawning parody videos and ASCII Internet art like the image below.
▼”So, when will you do it? How about now!”
While it’s certainly nothing special for the Internet to bleed into “Real Life,” many Japanese Twitter users found it hilarious. Others said that they gave the sign a double-take, thinking that they’d misread it, which seem like it is actually making driving more dangerous to us.
▼Hayashi Sensei immortalized in ink.
Still, as the image gains more and more attention, we really hope it’ll raise awareness of this simple fact: driving while sleepy can be deadly! Though it may sound absurd, it’s true that falling asleep at the wheel can have lethal consequences.
▼”When are you going to sleep? How about now!”
So next time you’re taking a long drive and your eyelids start to droop, ask yourself, “When am I going to take a break? How about now!”
Source: Togech
Image source: Nico Nico Pedia, Togech, Attrip, Japan.Internet.Com