Do the dead care what time it is?

October 31, 2005 8:11 PM

Does anyone know why every funeral home I see has a sign with a clock and weather info on it? I was curious about this after noticing it during a cross country drive in Canada. Is there some history or tradition to this?
posted by bryce.clarke to society & culture (17 comments total)

I've never ever seen this (I live in the Midwest USA)
posted by angry modem at 8:39 PM on October 31, 2005

only saw this at one place in Memphis, not at all when I was living in the sticks (same state) and don't recall it when living in LA either. then, there are a lot of buildings down here that have a time/weather sign (including dry cleaners, etc.) and I don't really actively search out funeral homes so maybe I'm missing it. my bet though is that they're put in as a service to the community - the funeral home's likely to be a place that has a bit of permanence (so the signs change less) and/or it was one of the first commercial establishments in a budding town. my googlefu is failing me right now tho.
posted by mrg at 8:59 PM on October 31, 2005

This'll sound silly but I don't know of any "new" funeral homes. All the ones I know of have been around since the 70s... about the time it was popular to put clocks and temperature things on signs.

That's my guess, anyway.
posted by Manhasset at 9:08 PM on October 31, 2005

I guess you are seeing this only in Canada? I've seen it, but not that often. (angry modem, I'm from the midwest, and that's where I've seen it - but only in a large city.)

My guess is they would do it for the same reason banks (the more usual suspects) probably do it - to call attention to themselves and to look good by providing a "public service." How many funeral homes have you driven by that you never even noticed? (Well, I guess you wouldn't know, huh?) But if the people in Townville see the time and temp on the sign at the Eternal Interment Funeral Parlor every day, when the time comes to bury Grandma or Uncle Ed, maybe they'll think of ol' EIFP, rather than Old 'n' Busted down the street who just have a regular little old-fashioned wooden sign. Also, many funeral homes these days do more than just hold services and bury the deceased - they provide pre-paid burial plans, counseling, maybe they even rent out space for other events. A big flashy sign in front of the building has got to be more effective in advertising this than an ad in the paper. Ditto for announcing upcoming services.
posted by attercoppe at 9:31 PM on October 31, 2005

it's so people won't be late to their own funerals

seriously, i don't think i've seen many of these around michigan ... a couple but that's all

there seems to be a compulsion these days for businesses to have flashier signs ... on the west side of town, all sorts of businesses have now got these big pixelated screens they can show pictures on and the billboards have venetian shade like partitions, only vertical, that switch from one ad to another

soon, i expect our funeral homes will have clocks and moving pictures of doves ... one in town already has a sign advertising the website one can read the obituary on
posted by pyramid termite at 9:57 PM on October 31, 2005

I always wondered this, too, and came to the conclusion that it presupposes your knowledge of your approximate lifespan and the best temperature for meat storage.

It's a memento mori.

This is what time it is.
This is how fast you'll rot.
posted by Sallyfur at 10:08 PM on October 31, 2005

who is it that has a limited supply of time? Why, you and I. When do we gain an unlimited supply of time? Why, when we become a client of the funeral home. The clock on the funeral home is the hourglass of your life, trickling away, grain by grain. Buy your memorial plan now, before it's too late; you don't want to burden you loved ones in thier hour of loss, do you?

This is a one-hundred-percent serious answer, I so aver.
posted by mwhybark at 10:40 PM on October 31, 2005

I drive quite a lot, to cities and small towns. I've only seen this once; rarely seen a new funeral home.
posted by frankie_stubbs at 12:07 AM on November 1, 2005

I wasn't in too observant a mood any of the times I've been into a funeral home, but if it really is as near-universal as you say my best guess is that what you're seeing is a chain of funeral homes. They may have so loose franchise guidelines as to all look 80% different and have different names but have some weird weather clause in the paperwork...

Actually reading over my comment it seems pretty unlikely...
posted by shanevsevil at 1:14 AM on November 1, 2005

I'm a canuck, and I've noticed this too.
I always assumed it's kind of a 'reassurance thing'. They know the temp and the time = they have 'everything in order'.
'Sides, Canadians are obsessed with weather.
posted by Radio7 at 2:23 AM on November 1, 2005

Clocks are a fairly common adornment to Aussie funeral parlours. Just a data point.
My guess is it goes along with the 'time is short' idea...
posted by bystander at 3:21 AM on November 1, 2005

I'm a Canadian, and I've always wondered the same thing. It's not all of them, certainly, but the a majority of them seem to.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:49 AM on November 1, 2005

Here in Brooklyn NY, there are many old funeral parlors, and *all* of them have a large old, analog clock in the window. I can't find any documentation of this online, but it is most definitely some sort of old marker, like the pole outside of a barber shop.
posted by TonyRobots at 8:33 AM on November 1, 2005

TonyRobots: Maybe it used to be an hourglass?
posted by RobotHero at 10:03 AM on November 1, 2005

A man passed a store window with nothing in it but a clock, stepped inside, and asked, "How long would it take to fix my watch?"
"How should I know? I don't fix watches. I'm a mohel."
"But - in your window - you have a clock!"
"So what would you put in the window?"
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:59 AM on November 1, 2005

shanevsevil writes "I wasn't in too observant a mood any of the times I've been into a funeral home, but if it really is as near-universal as you say my best guess is that what you're seeing is a chain of funeral homes. [...]

"Actually reading over my comment it seems pretty unlikely..."

Actually in Canada the vast majority of funernal homes are owned or franchised by a handful of companies. The Burial Society here in Calgary goes out of it's way to avoid contracting with chains and even the business they are associated with has half a dozen locations.
posted by Mitheral at 11:21 AM on November 1, 2005

Thanks for all the input. I was hoping there was some underlining reason for the signs, something like bloodletting and the red & white stripes of barber shop poles, but I guess not. It's interesting to see that it is not as universal as I thought. They seemed to be at every funeral home I have ever seen, but I guess it's more of a case of observer bias.
posted by bryce.clarke at 5:36 PM on November 1, 2005