Signage

I would think that "signage" as opposed to "signs" is meant to reference the arrangement thereof, as the entry states. Stores put "signs" in the window but it's the "signage" that draws you in.

@Bryan M

Yes, my thoughts exactly.

However, "common usage" or as I said "trying to be clever usage" seems to be leading to its use as the plural. This is especially true in NZ, especially in the press.

"Signage" as a plural for "sign" when we have the perfectly normal word "signs" available strikes me as about as far from clever as one can get--all the way to stupid.

I think, though, that this may be being misread. When some advertising type refers to the "signage" of a retailer, it is not a reference to its signs (in plural) but to its general mass of signs (arrangement, coordination, plan, whatever). Indeed, the "signage" of a given place might consist of only one sign.

Yeah.. I've never heard anyone use the word signage improperly..
My first thought was that you were misreading, as well..

But, I don't want to assume too much. The problem here is that you didn't provide anyone an example!

Rather than list examples I suggest you take a look at this link:-

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/signage/search/results.cfm?kw1=signage&kw2=&st=gsa

which may serve the purpose.

I think you may even find one example there where it appears as a verb!

HairyScot, I'm not sure which one you found to be a verb. I couldn't find one. Also, in all fairness, a few of the examples in the link were definitely correct, only a few were definitely incorrect, but most were ambiguous at best. For those, it would be impossible to say they're wrong without getting inside the head of the writer.

@porsche

I agree that some of the examples may be correct and/or ambiguous, and it would be quite a chore to go through them all..

The verb is in this article:-
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10552478

"Part of our korero [discussion] is that once we get the act through we will signage those places that are wahi tapu [sacred areas], so people know they are wahi tapu and respect them."

Are we sure the person who is going to "signage" sacred areas is a native speaker? It strikes me as the sort of mistake a person who is transliterating from another language might make--keep in mind that verb-noun-preposition combination such as "put signs around" are idiomatic.

At any rate, I just don't believe this is a problem; it is too bizarre.

I think 'signs' has many meanings, but signage is more specific: posters, roadsigns, billboards etc. If my say my job is to make signs I could be talking to deaf people. If I say my job is to make signage you know what I do, even if it sounds awful.

The indiscriminate use in New Zealand of "signage" to mean sign or signpost means not that it must be fine because they do it, rather that the poor people of that benighted land have been inveigled, by their own example or maybe the fantasy that they are doing American English or computer-speak, into using the horrible examples you have quoted here. They do a lot a more violence to the English language than this: I have heard "farewell" used as a verb (Today we farewell Mr Smith), "exit" as a verb (please exit the hall) and "swari" as an evening party, which I must surmise is a Maori word, although I suspect it is really ignorant-speak for "soiree". Do not under any circumstances take their mangled version of the language as a model, nor is it even an amusing subject for laughter, as Australian is.

@Brus ... You left out that the kiwi bureaucracy has coined the phrase "under urgency".

Farewell as a verb? Hmmmm ... I might be ok with that but the wonted way to make a verb from a noun is with the forefast be- but not always. Then too, we now hear folk talk about "friending" someone on Facebook instead of befriending.

Swari is a Japanese word I remember from Aikido (at least I think that is it ... it's been a long time) but it had nothing to do with an evening party. I have seen swaray for soiree (and swaray is best said with a Southern accent) ... I could see someone using swari if he doesn't know that the "ree" is said as "ray" ... Or maybe he does and is poking fun at it.

Exit IS also a verb. As in exit stage right. A byspel from the OED: The bullet entered her back and exited through her chest.

Anwulf
"Under urgency!" Horror! Where do they get these phrases? Actually, probably out of the same box the UK police and public medical services got theirs. I heard one saying on television recently "four male persons were ...". And there are examples any time a spokesman has to explain to a camera at the scene of the crime or incident. I believe they are made to speak in this weird way to communicate clearly on crackly radios, like the air force in WW2. This may explain why such a person might say "the bullet exited on the right side" where "came out" would sound much better, but might be misunderstood. The Latin "exit" is clinical and ugly, and the Anglo-Saxon based "came out" or "left" suits informal occasions. "When you leave the hall" is good English, "When you exit the hall" is dreadful. "Exit stage left" is an ancient stage direction. Yes, it is a verb here, but like the air force radio-speak is surely not intended as normal language, any more than is the labelling on a box of goods "this way up" is meant to masquerade as an elegantly constructed English sentence.
Thanks for helping to clear up that thing about the swari.

Being a former cop ... the police-speak comes from the wont of writing and talking as if everything is going to be brooked in a courtroom ... since it often is! It's a form of legalese! lol

Ugh! In my mind, "signage" is another abominable creation of the business, or perhaps military, culture--along with "utilize" (gag!) and the use of "grow" as a transitive (e.g., "We need to grow our business by at least 10% or we're in trouble.").

These hideous words are akin to using "impact" as a verb: "He impacted me greatly." (Please don't make me heave my breakfast!). Sadly, I alone won't succeed in stopping the world from using impact in this way, but I am not going to slip into such mediocrity myself. I dread the day--and it will come!--when "impact" used as a verb will become "impactize." Again, ugh!

"Signage" is yet another abomination of a word. Ugh! I will never utilize it ("utilize"? Ugh! take 2).

If I ever use "sign"or "signs" in a document that someone has to edit and the editor asks me to change it to "signage," I will toss my cookies right there and then politely refuse. I think those who use this abomination think they're being sophisticated, but in reality it reveals their ignorance.

Sorry, but I had to be straight forward in my opinion in order to impact whoever reads this. (Wait, "impact"? Ugh! take 3!)

E.T.