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Re: Lavatories, bathrooms,... Was: Re: Hymn to Ikea

From:John Quijada <jq_ithkuil@...>
Date:Friday, February 27, 2004, 19:02
Philippe Caquant  wrote:
>Toilets are also an interesting place from a >semiologic point of view: it is one of the first >places where the use of pictograms have been >generalized, to indicate "MEN" vs "LADIES". I think >this has spread all over the world by know, and it's a >good thing, because imagine that you're in a Muslim >country for ex, and you can't make the distinction >between the words meaning "Men" and "Ladies" ? You >might get your head chopped off. This is dangerous.
-------- I had to laugh at this, Philippe. You reminded me of an embarassing incident during my first trip to Spain in 1986 (and my first exposure to the Catalan language). I was in a Barcelona restaurant and went to use the toilet. The first door I came to was marked _SENYORES_. Assuming this was the Catalan equivalent to Spanish _SEÑORES_ I walked right in. Needless to say, I quickly learned that _senyores_ is the plural of Catalan _senyora_ and that the door I should have been looking for was marked _SENYORS_. I certainly could have used those pictograms you mention! --John Quijada

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Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>