A verbed noun

[Charles Doyle]

The signs may have been there a while, but I just noticed
them.  Along the interstate highways near Atlanta, motorists
are advised, "Enter and exit the HOV lane only at dashed
stripes."

I wonder what percentage of the public will even know what a
dash IS, much less derive from the posted instruction (with
its odd participle) the image of a broken line, since solid
dashes are the default on current word-processing programs,
and they are what appear in print (the "broken" double-
hyphen dash being relegated to wherever all the typewriters
now live in retirement).

--Charlie

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