Pronounced Ear Surgery

This billboard’s confusing image/text pair is, ear (something that you cut off), and year (something that flies by). Pay attention to the beginning sound, ye, and the vowel combination, ear.

To say the word ear correctly, move your lips from a smile, to a rounded position.

To see the word ear correctly, place the torn-off ear over the letter Y, in year.

To say the word year correctly, think of these two things: (1) start with the ye sound, as in yes, and (2) move your lips from a smile, to a rounded position.

To see the word year correctly, leave the torn-off ear-of-paper on the pavement, beneath the billboard, where you found it.

Give it a try; people will notice the difference. Unless you come from South Wales (as half my family does), where ears are pronounced, ‘yeears’. If all else fails, you can undergo surgery against pronounced ears.