'Obtundity' signs bewilder York residents and visitors

Exercise Obtundity is a multi-agency training exercise

Signs which have appeared on the streets of York have left some people in the city baffled and bewildered and prompted a storm on social media.

The boards, which read "Exercise Obtundity", left some unsure whether they were being given an instruction or a warning.

One visitor quipped "someone's been playing scrabble by the look of it".

The truth, however, is the obscure word - meaning "to deaden" - is the name of a police-led training exercise.

Speaking to the BBC, one person said: "I've no idea what that word means, knowing the police it could be anything."

Another suggested whoever was behind the signs "must be having a drink or two, or someone got a dictionary for their birthday".

Meanwhile, social media posts discussing the signs have included people warning of the dangers of obtundity and jokes about being let off with a caution by the police for not exercising obtundity.

The signs have appeared across the city in recent days

What is 'obtundity'?

The Collins English Dictionary defines obtundity as the state of "having the senses numbed or less sharp".

Meanwhile, The Concise Oxford Dictionary says to obtund is "to blunt or deaden".

People have been taking to their dictionaries in an effort to unpick the meaning of new signs in York

Not that anyone reading the signs needs to attempt to blunt or deaden anything.

Exercise Obtundity is actually the name of multi-agency training exercise taking place later this month around York Minster, involving City of York Council, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Residents and businesses around York Minster have already been given information about the timing of the exercise.

The signs, which have been placed near the minster, warn that Duncombe Place will be closed from 16:00 GMT to midnight on 22 January.

Meanwhile, parking will be suspended on the street from 11:00 GMT that day.