why underline?

This weekend the Diamond Center crew and I headed to Denton TX to play a show, and stopping every couple of hours provided us with ample exposure to small town wonderful-ness. I started taking note of all the handmade, explanative signs at and it raised the question, why underline?

I never really understood underlining past those notes passed in school that an underlined word would clearly help your best friend understand that you really, really, HATE (underlined & capitalized) that cheerleader that stole your boyfriend. 

I can understand that people think that when you underline a word it gives it more imphasis, and it might, especially in a long block of text but why in a less than 10 word sign does ANY word need to be underlined. I am a fan of ALL CAPS, it gives type color, and guides interest BUT underlining is just grotesque. Maybe the thought is that you would just clearly not see the word NOT, and flush your shoe (or any other object for a matter of fact) down the toilet if it had not been clearly underlined? 

This is an example of a sign that I encountered in Snyder TX ( after I had seen many priceless examples, and then started documenting). Now answer me this: if CRAFTS, PIES, and BRISKET would not have been underlined, would your eye not read them? Would you at that point decide not to go to the Fall Festival in pure disappointment because you had your heart set on browsing the crafts with a full belly of brisket and pies? NO! 

The bathroom sign illustrated below was found in Crosbyton TX and although it is not a case of useless underlining, it is clearly a confused person. Confused but not concerned enough to just use that extra piece of paper for a new sign, ahhhhhh. Kyle and I had a lengthy discussion about this one and decided maybe they should have just written LADIES.