When I was in early grade school, we lived in the Silver Valley region of Northern Idaho which was home to several large mines. I remember asking my dad why the bars and taverns disliked miners because so many people here were miners. He quickly realized that I had been looking at the sign on the door of a tavern that said "No minors."
I had to ask one day when I was a kid, without letting on what I was really confused about.
Christmas was contracted to Xmas. So what did those signs mean with a guy pictured walking and “XING” or Railroad “Xing”?
When we went into town I used to think that bicycles were not allowed as there were signs “No Peddling. “
Speaking of miners...
A guy walked into a bar, sat down, and drank a few beers. Eventually, nature took its course, and he went into the men’s room.
When he came back out, he said to the bartender, “I just saw the weirdest thing. There was a black guy in there with a white p***s.”
The bartender replied, “Oh that was Kowalski the coal miner. He just got back from his honeymoon.”
I had the same misundertanding with cigarette machines which were always in the entrance lobby of restaurants. They always said “Minors are forbidden to operate this machine.”