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There are some phrases that just don’t make sense. They get printed on shirts, billboards, and street signs, and if you encounter one, you’ll know it. Looking thrice and turning your head upside down won’t help. Asking for a friend’s help in deciphering the message won’t do much either.

You may call these phrases cursed and you wouldn’t be wrong. But there is an online group that’s not only entirely dedicated to these nonsensical phrases, but has also defined them as a phenomenon worthy of our attention on its own. Powered by 603k members, the Don't Dead Open Inside subreddit is a place for “signs and media that read as nonsense if read normally: from left to right.”

It may sound tricky, but bear with me. Below are some of the funniest signs that require 0% common sense and to throw everything you know about sentence structure out the window. Who knew that there could be so much sense in such nonsense?!


#3

Will There Be Blood Or Not!?

Will There Be Blood Or Not!?

manby Report

Just like most things on the internet, the subreddit Don't Dead Open Inside wasn’t created out of nowhere. The trope first came to internet users' attention when its name was used in a promotional poster for the TV series The Walking Dead. To this day, the Don't Dead Open Inside poster, revealed on July 2nd, 2010, stands as one of the most recognized examples of the trope in popular culture that caused the cult following on Reddit.

According to Know Your Meme, the infamous poster featured a photograph of a double door with the words "Don't Open" written on the left side and "Dead Inside" written on the right, which should be interpreted "Don't open, dead inside" if read in the correct order. The whole fun of the trope is revealed when the reader reads the phrase line by line instead, which sounds like "Don't dead open inside."

#5

Choose Abortion Life Kills

Choose Abortion Life Kills

StrongbowPowers Report

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Knowing the speed things surf around social media, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a couple of users on Twitter shared their reactions to the unusual poster on social media. In the following years, “the memes based on the joke were made, with Know Your Meme user irish_swede archiving one such example on March 12, 2013,” reported Know Your Meme.

On May 17th, 2014, the subreddit r/dontdeadopeninside was created, where the community collected cases of the trope found in popular culture, design, advertising, etc. Today, it’s home to 603k members that follow a strict set of rules for submissions.

#7

Doesn’t Sound Like Fun

Doesn’t Sound Like Fun

Reddituser4678213 Report

#8

Don’t Save A Life Be Afraid To Give Blood

Don’t Save A Life Be Afraid To Give Blood

dontdeadopeninside Report

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The first and most important rule is that all posts have to comply to DDOI format. “Signs must be read correctly top to bottom, and incorrectly left to right, like any text, usually. Though it does not matter how easily you can read them, it is highly encouraged to only post images with little separation or spacing between the columns of words.”

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The community doesn’t allow both reposts and memes, and encourages users to “put the 'correctly read' way in the title, like 'DONT DEAD OPEN INSIDE.'”

#10

Guaranteed Reduced Quality

Guaranteed Reduced Quality

Maqwheel Report

#11

7 Surprising Black Ways To Use Beans

7 Surprising Black Ways To Use Beans

maximum_chungus Report

#12

Aliectass

Aliectass

_awwsmm , DrJessicaLanger Report

#15

Stand Hong With Kong

Stand Hong With Kong

pedrojalapa Report

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lsoo avatar
Raine Soo
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stand with Hong Kong. I'm not sure why it wasn't written this way.

bryguy369 avatar
bryguy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The reason for a lot of these is because in Chinese they read and write vertically, not horizontally like you are reading this sentence. So, out of habit, they write these signs in English but still top to bottom.

mirielapatrikiadou avatar
Lou
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Chinese, Japanese, etc, they write in columns, not rows.

dariab_1 avatar
Daria B
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

With computers, however, these things are kind of changing. Not saying it's a new standard, the standard is still the column, but the horizontal way is also very very common. Also, there's east Asian languages that use the horizontal + left-to-right as default, such as Korean.

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katrinac avatar
Myxomatosis
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is written normally for people of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Cultures. They write top to bottom. In other words : Vertically - not Horizontally - like english speakers and 'MuriKKKa

tuncer_cosar avatar
Joeshar
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We need Kong to deal with Godzilla. Also need his buddy Hong.

elainemattingly avatar
Elaine Mattingly
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you are willing to stand for something at least do it with class, not used carddboard.

valrico63 avatar
Sam Cook
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Godzilla vs. Kong advertising team is taking to the streets!

samtgodfrey3 avatar
Sam T Godfrey
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Announcing a new monster movie!! Oh, and all the best to Hong Kong, stay safe, stay strong!

j12181951 avatar
Jim Day
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe he needs support in the upcoming match with Godzilla.

kttymazmeow avatar
KttyMazMeow
Community Member
3 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

bobbob avatar
a very smol kitteh
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

why hello hong, oh didnt see you there kong, anyway have a good day (i stood by them)

alexisdavar avatar
Luna Lovegood!
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd love to Stand Hong With Kong! now where will Kong be? Because...y'know...he's a celebrity.

jessereed avatar
JESSE REED
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hong needs to stand next to Kong, what so hard to understand.

luthervonwolfen avatar
Luther von Wolfen
Community Member
3 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

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#17

If You Were In A Car, Would You Know What Accident To Do?

If You Were In A Car, Would You Know What Accident To Do?

MrGrampton Report

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Ekate
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I usually go with spilling hot coffee on myself when the lid's not on properly.

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#21

Stop Earth The Denying Is Dying!

Stop Earth The Denying Is Dying!

SoddingOpossum Report

#23

Saw This At Work Today And Immediately Thought Of This Sub

Saw This At Work Today And Immediately Thought Of This Sub

rdeddit Report

#24

Always Forgotten - Missed Never

Always Forgotten - Missed Never

cdsackett Report

#26

Was There Even An Intended Order To Begin With?

Was There Even An Intended Order To Begin With?

plsiwanttosleep , starrthepj Report

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#29

Vote Dump Early Trump

Vote Dump Early Trump

JGolden32 Report

#30

Friend Of A Friend Got A New Tattoo

Friend Of A Friend Got A New Tattoo

drewwhis Report

#31

This Is A F**king Massacre. Thing Made Me Want To Dead

This Is A F**king Massacre. Thing Made Me Want To Dead

reddit.com Report

#35

You Think Some Tattooist Hate Their Own Work?

You Think Some Tattooist Hate Their Own Work?

Pyrox888 Report

#36

This Giant Poster In My University Dorm

This Giant Poster In My University Dorm

colonelpanic762 Report

#37

Drugs May Kill You, But Never Your They’ll Hurt Feelings

Drugs May Kill You, But Never Your They’ll Hurt Feelings

acookie2 Report

#38

Teachers Who Love Teach Children Teaching To Love Learning

Teachers Who Love Teach Children Teaching To Love Learning

tanooki_hardaway Report

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#39

Hear That Noise? We Are Growing. We Can Fix It Again. Apply Inside

Hear That Noise? We Are Growing. We Can Fix It Again. Apply Inside

armchairnixon Report

#40

My Girlfriends Kitchen Tiles. Forffee Coyou

My Girlfriends Kitchen Tiles. Forffee Coyou

Laveys_Fvcktoy Report

#45

Call Me Don’t

Call Me Don’t

RoyLifestyle Report

Note: this post originally had 70 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.