Can You Read The Most Confusing Sign in the Hudson Valley?

It's not everyday that you can feel your brain breaking, but the Hudson Valley always seems to find a way to surprise us. A local roadside sign in Marlboro, NY confused me so much that I had to drive by three separate times before I could even begin to figure out what was going on.

I like to consider myself a decently-educated person... literate at least. I thought would be the only requirement to read roadside signs, but a local garden center has sent me into a spiral. The first time I saw it I thought it was a practical joke. How quickly can you decipher the sign below?

Confusing Sign in Marlboro, NY

STNALP, the six letters on the side of the road seemed to spell. Or was it ST. NALP? "Oh, it must be for traffic coming from the other side", I deduced. I saw more letters coming up. "Surely these letters will make more sense", I told myself. I was wrong.

How Long Did It Take You to Read the Sign?

It was even more confusing the second time... clearly I was missing something. Now let's take a pause, because this might be around the time you start yelling at your screen with what the sign was trying to spell. I need to remind you that you have the luxury of staring at a photo... my wife and I were driving at 35 miles per hour! On my third drive-by it all started to make sense.

Letter Confusion in Marlboro, NY

People who speak and read English are taught to read from left to right, and this instinct proved to be my downfall when trying to decipher the sign. Left to right spells "STNALP", but if you read the letters from closest to farthest, the truth reveals itself. Before you scroll for the answer, did you figure it out?

We Finally Have an Answer

PLANTS! Of course. My first clue should have been that these giant block letters were posted in front of a garden center. I can see the instinct to put the first letter of the word closest to oncoming traffic, but the way the letters are staggered make interpreting the sign extremely difficult. At least it gave my brain some exercise!