"Dogs and Sailors Keep Off The Grass"

My favorite urban legends debunking site, Snopes, has looked into the old story that in Norfolk, among other places, people used to put up signs in their yards saying "Dogs and Sailors Keep Off The Grass". Turns out that there isn't any real evidence that this was a common occurence:

"The "Sailors and dogs: Keep off the grass" chestnut enjoys the acceptance it does because it communicates via one succinct and cold-hearted phrase how many in the military perceive themselves to be treated by the locals. As an expression of something deeply felt yet difficult to put into words, the text of the non-existent signs gets across that sense of barely being tolerated. In this regard, it is far less important that the signs never existed in the U.S. because the feeling being communicated by them certainly does."

Check out all the Snopes Military Urban Legends for some good reading...

Going deep...