This is not the original that I saw years ago on the walkway over to Belle Isle, but I think this is one of the most brilliant questions I've come across. It took me about half an hour to figure out what it means - and it couldn't be a more relevant message. Even, or perhaps especially, in times of chaos and crisis, creativity and play are essential for healthy living and fresh solutions. This version of the proverb, also on the walkway, ascribes it to "borf" but the first one I saw did not. I wonder whether he is indeed the originator of this penetrating query?This name reminded me of the 1987 nomination by President Regan of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, when concerns about his ideology, constitutional fundamentalism, caused him to be rejected and led to a new verb in our language: to be "borked". Maybe if Bork had read the graffito above and heeded its insight, he'd have been less rigid in his approach, who knows? Nevertheless, playing upon this event, perhaps we can add another new term to English, something more positive: to be "borfed", or reminded of the importance of playfulness in life.
(but come to think of it, it does have unpleasant echoes of 'barfed'....)
Also seen on the walkway, this stencil:
a pirate Pipi?
