Trespassers Beware

In the vicinity of my house, there is an army camp. When I was young, I often wondered to myself what would happen if someone would sneak into the area.

Then I saw the BIG RED SIGN and quite naturally, being young and impressionable, I would be moved to believe the semiotics rather than to read the fine print.

As we see from above, anyone who is a trespasser would likely be shot.

I was caught up with my aversion towards army camps from then on.

Then I grew up, as we all do.

And we learn to read the fine print (small fonts).

And it wasn't so scary after all. Cos all it said was that unauthorised persons could not enter. Phew.

And then I grew up some more, as all of us did, and I came to the university.

And then childhood trauma strikes once again...

Seen in NUS.

"Offenders will be shushed!"

Thankfully noisy people will not shot. Phew again.

Curiously, I wondered to myself why "shushed" was used in place of the more common "hushed" (more common at least in Singapore)?

And, why wasn't "Quieted" used instead? I thought that "shushed" was an informal word. As it turns out, I was not really correct since "Shush" can be used formally but only as an interjection, either verbal or adjectival.

Also, I was wondering why the sign-creators did not use other alternative phrasal forms like:

"Keep Your Volume Down"

"Silence is Golden"

"No Talking"

?

Perhaps the intent is to lessen the stressful studying culture of a university, hence the playful spin on an austere military sign, both semiotically and linguistically.

Shush!