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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: "Clean" means "Dirty"
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Over on a much weightier thread in Purgatory discussing Biblical interpretation, orfeo came out with this anecdote: quote:
I made a perfectly standard rotatable "Clean/Dirty" sign for the dishwasher at work, the kind you can buy, and one guy managed to interpret it the exact opposite way to how it was intended. He thought "Clean" meant that the dishwasher was 'clean', meaning he had the all-clear to through unwashed items into the dishwasher, in amongst the clean items that needed to be unloaded.
Any more contenders for polar opposite misunderstandings?
For my part, I'm still struggling with my web mail's click-and-drag instructions for sending files with e-mail: quote:
release to attach
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
My favourite may be found at the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. The exit signs there don't use arrows, but triangles, which would normally be good enough. Only instead of having painted triangles on the signs, they are cut out of the wood. So nomatter which direction you look at the sign from (unless side-on) you are informed that you are heading in the right direction for the exit.
It took me nearly half an hour to get of there.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Bob Two-Owls
Shipmate
# 9680
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Posted
That brings to mind the Yorkshire "while". In South Yorkshire in particular the word while is used like "until" so you might say to somebody "I'm here while five o'clock and then I'm off". Unfortunately level (railway) crossings have a standard sign which used to read "wait here while lights are flashing"...
[ 16. January 2015, 09:58: Message edited by: Bob Two-Owls ]
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sipech:
My favourite may be found at the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. The exit signs there don't use arrows, but triangles, which would normally be good enough. Only instead of having painted triangles on the signs, they are cut out of the wood. So nomatter which direction you look at the sign from (unless side-on) you are informed that you are heading in the right direction for the exit.
It took me nearly half an hour to get of there.
I can't remember where it was, but I once came across somewhere that had the usual convention for arrows reversed.
Normally, on an overhead sign, an arrow pointing up is taken to mean "keep moving forward, in the direction you're facing".
This place used an arrow pointing down to mean the same thing. My guess is that whoever had created the sign thought that this would tell people to move towards the spot under the sign. By this reasoning process, an upwards-pointing arrow can only be used when you're expected to climb through the ceiling.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
I remember taking some time to work out that in Estonia a red triangle pointing downwards indicated the gents, whereas upwards indicated the ladies.
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
I'm not sure I understand the Bluewater triangle explanation.
But older French semi-rural road signs can have an arrow pointing to the physical road rather than the more abstract direction of the destination.
I can't find a picture right now, but you can arrive at a crossroads with a sign mounted on, say, a wall immediately to the left of the road heading straight over, saying
Paris >
Which would mean "the Paris road is that one" i.e. continue straight on, and not, as might be imagined, "turn right here for Paris".
[ 16. January 2015, 10:50: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Barefoot Friar
Ship's Shoeless Brother
# 13100
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Posted
Where I grew up, in west central Alabama, the phrase "don't care to..." means "I'd rather not". So if someone says they "don't care to" go to the store with you, they mean they don't really want to go there with you now.
In northeast Alabama, "don't care to..." has the opposite meaning. If someone says they "don't care to" go to the store with you, they mean they're willing to go. The idea is they "don't care" -- they don't object.
ETA: I got several jobs I didn't really want to do because of this difference....
There are a few more obscure examples as well.
[ 16. January 2015, 10:57: Message edited by: Barefoot Friar ]
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Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. -- Desmond Tutu
Posts: 1621 | From: Warrior Mountains | Registered: Oct 2007
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
When none tries to "Uninstall" a program it is usually done by the Installation software.
eta: It's important to drive on the right side of the road, which in Britain is the left. Is that clear enough for you?
[ 16. January 2015, 11:02: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Bob Two-Owls
Shipmate
# 9680
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Posted
Sandemaniac, I have similar trouble sorting out Fir from Mna in Ireland. In the sense of lavatorial signage that is, I'm not saying Ireland is some kind of cross-dresser's paradise...
Posts: 1262 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Barefoot Friar:
In northeast Alabama, "don't care to..." has the opposite meaning.
In Northern Ireland, "I doubt he's coming" usually means that he very probably is.
But may well be unwelcome when he arrives - perhaps the (appropriately dour) idea is that by thinking it hard enough it won't happen, overriden by the sad reality that it probably will.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
In many cafeteria's and the like, signs that say "This is a self-cleaning table". Which clearly means that when you walk away leaving your tray of empty plates and dirty cutlery behind the table will sprout arms and legs to carry your rubbish to the appropriate tray drop point.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Lord Jestocost
Shipmate
# 12909
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Posted
I somehow always end up following the buses around here, and they have triangular rear indicator lights. So when they signal left, what I see is a flashing arrow pointing right, even though it's on the left side of the vehicle. It's the way my mind works.
I've also been caught out in the US by the road signs hanging over intersections. They give the name of the road you are intersecting, NOT the road you are already on.
My father gets confused by the type of electrical switch that has a white face or a red face. The red face usually means the switch is on. He interprets it as meaning the switch is off, because if it was (say) powering a life support machine then that would be the more life-threatening of the two options. Not that his career has ever taken him anywhere near life-support machines, but that's the way his mind works.
Posts: 761 | From: The Instrumentality of Man | Registered: Aug 2007
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eutychus:
I'm not sure I understand the Bluewater triangle explanation.
Get a piece of paper and cut a triangle out of it. Then write "Exit this way" on both sides of the paper above the triangle-shaped hole.
Hang it somewhere then walk towards it twice, once each from opposite directions. Either way you approach it, the sign will be telling you that you're going in the right direction.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Um... OK. So which way is out? (Not that I ever intend to go back to Bluewater. Once was enough).
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Higgs Bosun
Shipmate
# 16582
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Posted
In Britain, particularly in London, on one way streets where pedestrians are to cross they paint 'LOOK RIGHT' or 'LOOK LEFT' by the kerb, to tell you the direction from which traffic is to be expected. However, these words are down by my feet, so I read automatically read the upside down words on the other side of the street, and so look the wrong way.
Posts: 313 | From: Near the Tidal Thames | Registered: Aug 2011
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Liopleurodon
Mighty sea creature
# 4836
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Posted
Bluewater is triangle-shaped though, and surrounded by carparks, with exits to the carparks all around the outside of the triangle. So it's pretty easy to get out of the shopping centre. It is incredibly important, though, to exit at the correct point to get back to your car (or to the bus station bit). I remember that when the place first opened the police were inundated with reports of stolen cars because people thought they knew where in the 13,000-space carpark theirs was, but had got it wrong.
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Our God is an awesome God. Much better than that ridiculous God that Desert Bluffs has. - Welcome to Night Vale
Posts: 1921 | From: Lurking under the ship | Registered: Aug 2003
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
There's always the classic "Fine for Parking" sign.
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
When I was a child the incumbent of the parish had a stock of cards which he would put through the door of a house if he called and didn't get an answer; the cards read
"The Rector called and was sorry to find you not at home."
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
This is a Pond thing*, but it's always puzzled me that a Brit who says "I couldn't care less" means exactly the same as an American who says "I could care less".
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
* No pond-war intended: I'm genuinely confused.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
This is a Pond thing*, but it's always puzzled me that a Brit who says "I couldn't care less" means exactly the same as an American who says "I could care less".
* No pond-war intended: I'm genuinely confused.
Really? "I couldn't care less" means that I do not care at all. It's like saying I could't get colder than absolute zero.
Surely "I could care less" means that I care somewhat but am in danger of not caring any more.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
No. It is a misuse. Judging by everyone I have heard use "I could care less" meaning they do not care at all. Yes, it is possible some individuals take a different meaning, but generally the two mean the same.
And the mixed phrasing Is not limited to one side of the Atlantic.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
There was a wonderful photograph in the newspaper years ago of two signs on the same post facing the same way:
"ENTRANCE ONLY"
"DO NOT ENTER".
It did make sense, though, if you were already inside the parking lot and looking for the way out.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
We have these weird single rows of triangles painted on the road at the entrance to on-ramps/off-ramps of the freeway. The triangles have the pointy side facing TOWARD you when it's a road you're allowed to enter there, away when it's not.
Which makes no sense. If you think of them as arrowheads without the shaft, they're exactly opposite to how they should be. If you think of them as shark's teeth (which I can't avoid every time I see them), then you're supposed to rush on to the sharp and pointy edge in order to get where you want to go.
Just.No.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
We have these weird single rows of triangles painted on the road at the entrance to on-ramps/off-ramps of the freeway. The triangles have the pointy side facing TOWARD you when it's a road you're allowed to enter there, away when it's not.
It confused the hell out of me when I was learning to drive that you were not supposed to enter a road marked like this. To me it seems intuitive that you should enter the wider end and are then focused increasingly towards the pointy end which is the directional indicator, but it doesn't work like that.
[ 16. January 2015, 16:55: Message edited by: Ariel ]
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
There are, of course, those French junctions on encounters where two puzzling choices are offered: "Toutes Directions" and "Autres Directions".
(Yes, I know that they shouldn't be translated literally into English).
Thinking of signs, when I see one in a supermarket car park saying "Parent and child parking only", I expect a mum and a baby to be sitting in the marked space, disconsolately chained to the signpost while dad and the older kids do the shopping.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
Another Pond thing I think is the use of the word "momentarily" which over here means "just for a moment" and over there means "in a moment".
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
This is a Pond thing*, but it's always puzzled me that a Brit who says "I couldn't care less" means exactly the same as an American who says "I could care less".
This is fast becoming the standard text on this issue: David Mitchell on 'could care less'
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I have problems with triangles indicating the door open, door close buttons on lifts. Rather like this -- <> and ><. I see them as illustrating the doors, with the <> showing them moved together, and >< showing them moved apart. But, apparently, they show the motion. But I still get confused. Why they can't use words, I know not.
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I have problems with that too.
The symbols on car dashboards are also not how I'd have portrayed the concepts they represent and aren't particularly intuitive. Fog (for one) ought to be a little cloud.
Incidentally, I had no idea that this was a possibility in some cars.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Jestocost:
I've also been caught out in the US by the road signs hanging over intersections. They give the name of the road you are intersecting, NOT the road you are already on.
Having seen this all my life, it makes sense to me. The idea is that you know what street you're already on, and you're looking at the overhead signs to know where to turn or to figure out how far you've gone. Frequently when we give directions we'll say, "It's on Third just past Cedar -- if you get to Chestnut you've gone too far."
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Incidentally, I had no idea that this was a possibility in some cars.
I want one!
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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
Posts: 889 | From: Surrey Heath (England) | Registered: Jun 2012
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I've just watched Room 101 - alternative meanings for dashboard signs. Headlamps becomes jellyfish ahead. full beam becomes jellyfish speeding, and something to do with brake pads becomes Camelot missing some knights.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I've just watched Room 101 - alternative meanings for dashboard signs. Headlamps becomes jellyfish ahead. full beam becomes jellyfish speeding, and something to do with brake pads becomes Camelot missing some knights.
That was good. She had a good point - some of them are confusing.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Jestocost:
I've also been caught out in the US by the road signs hanging over intersections. They give the name of the road you are intersecting, NOT the road you are already on.
Having seen this all my life, it makes sense to me. The idea is that you know what street you're already on, and you're looking at the overhead signs to know where to turn or to figure out how far you've gone. Frequently when we give directions we'll say, "It's on Third just past Cedar -- if you get to Chestnut you've gone too far."
I haven't been in Massachusetts for more than twenty years, but the street signs there did not give the name of the street you were on if it was a major road. The idea was that if you're on Commonwealth Avenue, you're supposed to know it.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I have problems with triangles indicating the door open, door close buttons on lifts. Rather like this -- <> and ><. I see them as illustrating the doors, with the <> showing them moved together, and >< showing them moved apart. But, apparently, they show the motion. But I still get confused. Why they can't use words, I know not.
They're arrows. Doors aren't triangular.
The reason for not using words is because not everyone can read English.
[ 16. January 2015, 21:36: Message edited by: orfeo ]
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
There are, of course, those French junctions on encounters where two puzzling choices are offered: "Toutes Directions" and "Autres Directions".
Aw! I wanted to do that one. Apparently "toutes directions" can be better translated as "through traffic", or was that "autres directions"?
I know in Belgium they don't seem to have caught on to the idea that an arrow pointing up means straight on (and when you think about it why doesn't it mean "up"?), so when you see a signpost pointing left to Brussels you have to look for another one pointing right to Brussels and split the difference.
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jonah the Whale:
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
There are, of course, those French junctions on encounters where two puzzling choices are offered: "Toutes Directions" and "Autres Directions".
Aw! I wanted to do that one. Apparently "toutes directions" can be better translated as "through traffic", or was that "autres directions"?
"Toutes directions" would be "through traffic". I think having the two signs together at one junction must be aprocryphal*.
"Autres directions" means "everywhere apart from the main direction signposted".
*Although I distinctly remember a "no parking" pictogram sign near Paris with a qualifying notice underneath, "tolerated", which kind of embodies the French ambivalence to law and order.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
If I want a little bit of street sign confusion, I don't have to leave my own country.
Here in Canberra, if you have an ordinary, small-scale T-intersection, there will be a street sign at the top of the 'T'. It will have the name of the side-street pointing in the direction of the side-street, and the name of the through-street running across in the direction of the through-street. In other words the shape of the sign is itself like a 'T'.
Effectively, the sign for the side-street is pointing at the street and saying "it's there".
Plenty of other places, though, the sign for the side-street will be sitting on its own on one of the two corners inside the T-intersection, pointing down the side-street.
Effectively, this is saying "it starts here".
I do understand the logic of the 2nd system, but it causes me difficulty, not least because I haven't worked out whether there's any system for knowing whether the sign will be on the corner that's just before the turn I want, or on the corner that's just after the turn I want.
It's just occurred to me that maybe it's based on whether I'm turning left or right, so now I'll have to drive to some town that uses the system and test that theory out.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
Two particular bugbears:-
1. Signing which seem to have been laid out by highway engineers who can't imagine that there are people who don't already know the way - in which case why would they need the signs?
2. Highway engineers who put one sign directly behind another so that you can't see it until it's too late.
One would have thought both these were obvious, but they're not.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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cosmic dance
Shipmate
# 14025
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Posted
My favourite confusing expression is the South African "just now" as in "I'll see you just now" which actually means "I'll see you later". If someone actually means "now" they will say "now now".
Least that's the way it was when I was in that part of the world...
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"No method, no teacher, no guru..." Van Morrison.
Posts: 233 | From: godzone | Registered: Aug 2008
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Deputy Verger
Shipmate
# 15876
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Posted
As I recall, "just now" means in a while, or not now. "Now now" means, soon, next, in a very little while, and "now" means now, more or less.
Posts: 475 | From: London | Registered: Sep 2010
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Rowen
Shipmate
# 1194
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Posted
For some years, I lived in a region that was being overtaken by highways. New ones every month. Signage changed constantly. But for a long time, a series of signs had us in giggles, and must have confused tourists.
The ten or so road signs had one arrow, one direction.... The words said " Melbourne. Cairns"
Considering Melbourne was some two thousand kms south, and Cairns about the same, north, we never worked out tne reasoning on the signs.
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"May I live this day… compassionate of heart" (John O’Donoghue)...
Posts: 4897 | From: Somewhere cold in Victoria, Australia | Registered: Aug 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
Boston used to be worse. They'd have street signs for the minor side streets but none on the major streets. The theory was that you would know the major streets. They subverted Federal Bicentennial celebration funds to put up street signs for the major streets on the excuse that a lot of tourists would be visiting Boston and would need help.
To me the most common confusion is in the street post push buttons to control the walk light at an intersection. It's often unclear what street is meant by which arrow when there are two buttons.
My favorite confusing phrase is from Lewis Carroll; "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you come to tea?"
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eutychus:
I think having the two signs together at one junction must be aprocryphal.[/QB]
Toutes directions. Autres directions.
I swear I recall seeing it at least once in Belgium. On the other hand I am now so old that I probably remember recalling that I thought someone had said they had seen it and have misrembered it into a quasi memory.
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
There was a humorous but official traffic sign put up in Holland. They had been implementing a new theory of reducing pedestrian injuries by not making streets seem like highways which are safe to drive fast in a car. This includes narrow car lanes, eliminating curbs and most marked crosswalks and a lot of lights and traffic signs.
At one point in this elimination of all the excess signage they added one. It translated "last traffic sign for 40 kilometers" ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
quote:
I have problems with triangles indicating the door open, door close buttons on lifts. Rather like this -- <> and ><. I see them as illustrating the doors, with the <> showing them moved together, and >< showing them moved apart. But, apparently, they show the motion. But I still get confused. Why they can't use words, I know not.
They're arrows. Doors aren't triangular.
They're angle brackets, and that's where the problem lies. No door is angled like that, so not everyone is immediately clear which direction means what. The arrow thing is an interpretation. Judging by the amount of people I've seen going for the wrong button on the trains Penny and I aren't alone in not getting this right and thinking <> is unity, wholeness, completion while >< is parting.
Traffic lights ought to be the other way round, as well: green for peaceful, restful stop and red for energetic get-your-foot-down and rocket off. I don't have a problem with them as they currently are, but it would feel a bit more natural if the meanings were reversed.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I am with Penny on lift door signs. They are confusing - I can never work out which one is which.
I know that they need signs not words, because of language issues, but the symbols need to be clear. To everyone.
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Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Traffic lights ought to be the other way round, as well: green for peaceful, restful stop and red for energetic get-your-foot-down and rocket off. I don't have a problem with them as they currently are, but it would feel a bit more natural if the meanings were reversed.
"... And there, Your Honour, rests the case for the defence."
People are often alarmed at the thought of "clean" and "dirty" corridors around surgical theatres in hospital. But context is everything: "dirty" means "could eat your dinner off it", and "clean" means "if we find a bacterium in here, it'll be taken out and shot."
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
The reason for not using words is because not everyone can read English.
Wittgenstein uses the example of people who read arrows in the opposite direction from the rest of us as an example of the arbitrary nature of symbols. I thought he was speculating until my two-year daughter started reading arrows.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
I've never been able to use or understand the symbols for < and > greater than and less than - the arrows in either direction.
I can reason it both ways. It was a killer for me on school standardized tests.
I love the little helper, "Righty-tighty, lefty- loosey". However, it seems to depend on how you're holding the things to be connected, or whether you're in front of, or behind the the two hoses... ah, it's so complicated.
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Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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