i202 Fall 2010 School of Information, UC Berkeley

Different words means different  things to different people! According to this article, thieves in Georgia keep stealing 3 street signs: Green Acres, Boone's Farm and Mary Jane Lane. Apparently these thieves attribute some meaning to these signs. Perhaps it reminds them of their favorite activities and products?  I, personally, never watched Green Acres or sipped on some fine Boone wine. And the name Mary Jane reminds me of Spider Man, not marijuana. Thus, you would never find me stealing these signs late at night: they just don't mean anything to me.

In order to deter thieves, the county commissioner suggests renaming the streets, 'mak[ing] the names boring.' What does 'boring' mean? New names will still carry some kind of meaning, luring different thieves to steal the newly-named signs. This article is an example of the labeling problem, but reversed: instead of trying to establish labels (street names) that is meaningful and understood by people, the commissioner is  trying to find a name has no meaning. Good luck with that!