Comments for vocalized/vocalised

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by Saltwater

Saltwater — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:52:01 +0000

To be honest, the chance of finding a completely unmarked crossroads will mean you’re so far out in the sticks that there probably won’t be another car there that day, let alone the same time as you. I think this just relies on the British culture of “after you, oh no after you…” to avoid accidents.

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by Murli

Murli — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:11:50 +0000

oops, forgot to clarify that my bonus signal was in reference to the top-right picture.

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by Murli

Murli — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:09:25 +0000

your husband is right about the last one. straight arm going up and down means slowing down. the top-right picture means turning left and the bottom-left one means turning right. the bottom-right one isn’t a legitimate signal. bonus: reverse the direction of your arm’s movement and it means you’re u-turning! all these signs are for cars behind you not for the pedestrian.

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by vocalised

vocalised — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:04:08 +0000

Right, thanks for that clarification. In the US, the protocol for an unmarked junction is that the car on the right gets right-of-way; all I’m saying is that, in the UK, there could/should be a protocol that the car on the left gets right-of-way. Of course, neither of these is useful in the event that all four cars really do arrive at a junction at exactly the same time. And I do recognize that there are a lot more perpendicular, unmarked junctions across the US than there are across the UK. So I get it, I’m just being grumpy.

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by Dorix

Dorix — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:38:39 +0000

The key in the crossroad conundrum is that it’s unmarked. There are quite clear priority markings at most road junctions, but occasionally these are obliterated/obscured for whatever reason, upon which the sensible thing to do is to assume that you should stop and only proceed with caution. It doesn’t mean that there’s no priority ever, just that there’s no protocol for an unmarked junction.

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by Peter Sells

Peter Sells — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 16:49:18 +0000

Having grown up here (and having passed my test back when it must have been even quainter?) I must say, most of that seems totally intuitive to me, and I was surprised by how different the expectations were in the U.S. I think Jefferson’s right about the last answer. (Though I didn’t know the birds names meant anything. As children we learned the pedestrian rules from a squirrel, so I guess birds just seemed to fit as well.) When the new road signs came in the 60s or 70s, there were lots of jokes about them, e.g.:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beware_of_low_flying_motorcycles.jpg

Anyway … good luck!

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by Camille

Camille — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:53:52 +0000

Hilarious, great post! Captures some great elements of British driving, including the ever present sheep in the countryside.

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by thesociallinguist

thesociallinguist — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 01:34:11 +0000

What, there’s no right of way rule in the UK?? Ok, I should’ve failed my driving test then… I did not know that.

Comment on Puffins, Toucans, and Zebras, Oh My! by Rachel Cotterill

Rachel Cotterill — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 23:32:33 +0000

Oh, this is to funny. I don’t drive so, despite being British, it’s all quite mystifying to me!

Comment on Place Identity by vocalised

vocalised — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:00:31 +0000

P.S. After some thought, I’ve actually decided to speak on something totally different at OSU, so stay tuned for more details on that. And, for two videos that are both a million times cooler than the one I posted above, check out the LanguageLog’s recent coverage: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4464