Any (lab) test? We're so discreet, we even use parentheses.

May 27, 2006 7:58 AM

Billboards around town offer the service of "Any (lab) test." The companies offering the service vary, but they all include the word "lab" in parentheses. Why the consistent parenthetical? The service wouldn't really make sense without the parentheses, would it?
posted by tegoo to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

I imagine they're probably all operating under the same umbrella company, like a lot of spam-type websites. Why the parentheses are there in the first place I couldn't guess at.
posted by borkingchikapa at 8:32 AM on May 27, 2006

What town is it? I've never seen any signs like that here in Montana (USA).
posted by davidmsc at 10:17 AM on May 27, 2006

Maybe they mean, tests performed in a lab, as opposed to a neuromuscular test of some kind that would be performed in a doctor's office?

Is it always obvious that is a medical context? Maybe they insert the word lab so you don't think they also offer brake tests on your car or carbon monoxide tests on your furnace or Java certification tests?

I'm rambling, sorry. Have never seen these billboards.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 11:23 AM on May 27, 2006

Response by poster: They're common here in Atlanta. I've never noticed them elsewhere. I was kinda hoping it was some sort of universal thing that I wasn't aware of, but the fact that no one else has seen them points to borkingchikapa's umbrella spam theory.
posted by tegoo at 12:04 PM on May 30, 2006