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Previous: Arizona Tea containers filled too much | Main | Next: No dumping sign
April 19, 2007 12:03 AM
Broken: Bus door instructions
Dave Reevely writes:
Here's a cell phone picture of the doors on a city bus here in Ottawa, Ontario. Bilingual signs are the norm in this bilingual city, but usually they say more or less the same thing in French and in English.
The English instructions state, "To open the door, wait for the green light, then wave hand near door."
The French instructions state, "To open the door, wait for the green light, then push the bar."
However, only the French instructions will actually
get you off the bus!
The English decal must have been left over from
some earlier model.
Maybe whoever made this thought it was heading to the US instead of Canada, and it was payback for "freedom" fries...
Its difficult to tell from the picture, but it appears that the drawing of the guy is the same in each. They both appear to be pushing forward. If that is the case, then I would surmise that there might have been an issue with the translation to english.
I don't think it's a translation issue. I took two years of high school French (only paid attention one year) and I know that "poussez la barre" means "push the bar." That's a literal translation.
Then again, "poussez" was always my favorite French word because of how it was pronounced.
Or maybe it is some plot to make sure only the french speakers will survive. In an accident, those who don't know french would stand around waving while the flames slowly consumed the bus
Several impotent passengers...or as they say in French, zeveral impotont pazzenzhayz.
I hope this is not the start of renewed ethnic violence among our neighbors to the north. ;-)
That model of bus definitely requires pushing the bars.
(There is another model in service here that does involve waving one's hand. I hate that one with a passion, but fortunately it's very rare).
I would expect this in france where it's a translation from french to english, but since Canada is bilingual I would think that they would be able to create correct english and french translations.. after all I doubt the buses or labels were made in france and imported to canada..
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Previous: Arizona Tea containers filled too much | Main | Next: No dumping sign
Onghhhh, zoze rascally Fronch.
I hope this is not the start of a dangerous xenophobic trend up there in Ontario.
Posted by: tartan at April 19, 2007 12:11 AM