>And not just engravers in antiquity. I recall a picture of one of those >large white warning signs on roads which are obviously stencilled. This >one read 'SLOM'.
Are you sure you were not standing the wrong side of it, and it said MOTS ? (for those outside of the UK, the "MOT check" is a licence granted by the Government to commercial garages to print money, by requiring all car owners to undergo an annual check of roadworthyness (of the car!) at which the garage 'mechanic' makes a series of tests, then explains what is wrong (usually things which you cannot easily check yourself) and then 'fixes' them. The resulting certificate (the MOT) of roadworthyness, gained at great expense then has no great validity in the event of mechanical failure leading to an accident once you have left the garage forecourt). Peter Tandy -
