A B727 CREW; TAXIING FOR TKOF AT SDF; MISINTERPRETED THEIR TAXI CLRNC AND HELD IN THE WRONG AREA.

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TAXIING AT LOUISVILLE SDF GND INSTRUCTED US TO TAXI ON TXWY F AND HOLD SHORT OF RWY 17R. AT THE TIME WE WERE CONFIGURING THE ACFT FOR TKOF AND VISUALLY SAW THAT WE WERE POINTED TOWARDS TXWY F; WHERE I SAW AT THE SIDE THE CLR YELLOW MARKINGS SO WE CONTINUED TO THE HOLD SHORT MARKINGS AND RAN THE BEFORE TKOF CHKLIST. SHORTLY AFTERWARDS GND INSTRUCTED US TO TAXI VIA XING RWY 17R AND PROCEEDING N ON TXWY B TO RWY 17R. BEFORE XING THE HOLD SHORT LINE; THE FO NOTICED 2 OR 3 AIRPLANES TAXIING N ON TXWY B AND ASKED THE CTLR IF HE WANTED US TO FOLLOW THE ACR B737. THE GND CTLR IRRITATED RESPONDED THAT HE WAS EXPECTING US TO HOLD SHORT OF RWY 17R ON TXWY F TO THE S OF OUR POS. THE FO RESPONDED POLITELY THAT THE GND CTLR DID NOT SPECIFY TURN L OR R ON TXWY F; HE HAD SIMPLY SAID HOLD SHORT OF RWY 17R ON TXWY F AND THERE IS A BIG TXWY F SIGN BY OUR SIDE. THE CTLR ACKNOWLEDGED THAT AND SAID THAT THE MARKINGS WERE GIVING THEM LOTS OF TROUBLE AND THAT THEY WERE 'STUDYING' WHAT TO DO; AND FURTHER IF WE CONTINUE FLYING TO SDF WE SHOULD TAXI TO THE S TXWY F AND HOLD THERE. I THINK HE WAS SOUNDING A LITTLE TIRED; BUT HIS INSTRUCTIONS WERE DEFINITELY AMBIGUOUS AND FAILED TO CONVEY A CONCISE AND CLR MESSAGE. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR REVEALED; AS THEY TAXIED TOWARD TXWY F THEY WERE CONFUSED BY THE RWY SIGNS; ENDING UP HOLDING SHORT OF RWY 11/29 AT TXWY F INSTEAD OF RWY 17R/35L AS INSTRUCTED.