Everyday comedy: “This door is closed.”

Self-tutoring about how people describe situations: the tutor mentions a humorous one he noticed.

The other night, I was outside a gas station that had two doors. One had a sign on it: “This door is closed.” So it was.

Yet, the intention seemed to be that the door shouldn’t be opened. Therefore, “closed” was meant to be “not available,” as in how a facility can be “closed.” I wondered: can a door be “closed” the way a swimming pool can?

Apparently so: people who arrived at the gas station always opened the other door, never the “closed” one (although, as they approached, both doors were closed, the only difference being that one declared it).

From my point of view, this case is still open.