CONTEST RESULTS

Thank you to everyone who submitted a contest entry. We had 17 entries with some very interesting answers. We ended up with 2 distinct groups. One group of 3 had 5 or 6 correct answers. The remaining group of 14 had 0, 1 or 2 correct answers. So we have decided to award two winners. There will be a prize for the "expert" catagory and a prize for the "I really did guess" catagory. We will let you decide which catagory was yours.

A couple of comments on how the contest was judged. Several entries contained multiple answers. So if your answer contain the word "or" we only took the first answer unless the first answer was an obvious joke. However, this did not change the result of the winners. Also, if an answer was missing, an essential element, we judged it wrong.

Now the "moment you have all been waiting for." The result of the BIG CONTEST and even more importantly - the winner announcement. As a line from one of my favorite songs says "A DJ with a badge and a blazer came on and said HERE WE GO."

Picture #1

This sign means No Parking. There were 7 correct answers for this sign which was the second highest number of correct answers. There were several guesses of Do not Enter. Some of the more interesting answers were 1) No blue sky and 2) High tide.

Picture #2

This is the Do Not Enter sign. In the small narrow streets in old towns which were built centuries ago, you see this sign a lot. We figured this sign out fairly early on because of the locations the signs were posted. This was also the easiest for you folks at home resulting in the highest number of correct answers (8). The guesses included: Stop, Dead End, Railroad and Walk Sideways. The funniest answer for this sign was "International Symbol of People Neither Happy or Sad." Interestingly enough, the sign for Stop is the same as the USA.

Picture #3

This sign was the hardest for me (Dave) to understand and it only took me four months to figure this one out. Luckily I did not have an accident. Some intersections in France yield the right-of-way (or priority) to the road on the right even if it is a secondary road to the route you are traveling. So this sign means "Intersection ahead and the road on the right has priority." Only one person answered this one correctly. Other answers included: (2) Railroad Crossing and (2) Wrong Way. Two people think alike and answered, Buried Treasure Here.

Picture #4

This is another intersection sign but this one means "Intersection ahead, you have priority." This sign was answered correctly by one person and had the most varied set of answers. The answers included: No stopping, No Turn, Merging Traffic, Church and Cross traffic Does Not Stop. There were several very colorful guesses of Bombs Ahead, Yield to Rockets, Little Alien Man Ahead and my favorite, A Silhouette of Dave's Head but I don't Think His Ears Stick Out That Far.

Picture #5

No Vehicles is the answer for this sign. All 3 people in the expert catagory were the only ones to get this correct. Popular guesses included Roundabout or Stop. Other answers included: Train, Target Range Ahead, Target Store Ahead and Giant Cheerio.

Picture #6

This was my favorite sign because I thought most people would get it wrong. This one only produced 1 correct answer. A real fooler!! One person almost got it right but the answer was on the second half of an "or" guess. Almost everyone guessed that this meant "No Bicycles." This is a very American answer. I have not seen any area in France of no bicycles. The best answer we received on this one was, No Riderless Bikes Allowed, which was very creative. The correct answer is Bike Path Ends.

Picture #7
This sign was also very hard for us to understand. We finally had to ask a friend who is a police officer what it meant. This is another sign that deals with who has priority (right-of-way). The difference between this sign and the two previous intersection signs is that this sign means the Road has priority until the priority ends, not just at one intersection. The priority ends sign is the same sign with a black line across it. Again the only 3 correct answers were from the expert catagory. The most popular answer was (5) Caution followed by (3) Yeild. This sign had a couple of the best answers overall including, Sponge Bob Square Pants and Yield, There is a Big Mess of Yellow Mustard Ahead

Picture #8
One of the things to remember about driving in France is that many of the towns, cities and roads were built before cars. There are many spots that are too narrow for two cars to pass. A narrow bridge is the closest thing we have in the U.S. So what this sign means is Yield to Oncoming Traffic. There is a corresponding sign with a bigger white arrow on the right which means Oncoming Traffic should Yield. What I find strange is that sometimes the narrow spot is artifically created whick may be for speed control. We had 3 correct answers and again they were the experts. Almost everyone else thought it meant Two Way Traffic. The best answer was Hot if You Go Up, Dark if You Go Down.

Picture #9

The "A" on the back of a car signifies a driver with less than two years experience. I call it the "Rookie Stamp." The "A" can be a decal or magnetic and is sold at grocery stores. I think this is a great idea and I wish we could introduce this in the U.S. We only had one correct answer and it was not from an expert. Other answers included: Honor Student, Learner's Permit, Alpine, Taxi and A Scarlet Letter . The most interesting answer was, People that have never been in an accident and the reason they have never been in an accident is that they drive real sloooooow.

Tie breaker - The speed on the high speed toll road is 130 kph (81 mph). What is the speed when it is raining? The correct answer is 110 kpm (68 mph). Only one person was correct. Other guesses were 130, 100 and 90. Five people did not give an answer for the tie breaker. It pays to read all the directions.

NOW FOR THE AWARDS:

Just under the Wire Award goes to Lisa H. Her entry arrive just minutes before I started judging the answers.

Quick Draw Award goes to Mike C. His entry arrived early the next morning after the blog was posted.

Best Cartoon Character Award goes to Jon S. for his answer of Sponge Bob Square Pants on Picture #7

Funniest Award goes to Vance D. It takes a special mind to see the bike sign (#6) and come up with, No Rideless Bikes Allowed. He also had several other extremely strange answers. You were my favorite Vance.

Best Southern Entry Award goes to Nancy G. Hey she is my mother, I had to give her an award.

Hot Dog Award goes to Monica I. for her guess on the Priority Road sign (#7). She guessed, Yield - There is a Big Mess of Yellow Mustard in the Road.

NOW FOR THE REAl PRIZE WINNERS:

The Winner of the Expert Category was Mike C. with 6 correct answers. He had questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, & 8 correct. He almost had #6 correct but it was after an "or" in his answer.

The Winner of the I Really Did Guess category was Marsha A. She had questions 1 & 2 correct and had the closest tie breaker answer of the other two people who had 2 correct (Donna H. and Lisa H. also had 1 & 2 correct).

Mike, I will be being selecting a special Frence gift just for you. Marsha, probably to your relief, Susie will be selecting your special French gift.

A BIG THANKS TO ALL WHO PLAYED AND HOPE YOU HAD AS MUCH FUN AS WE DID!!