(03-08-2019, 07:46 AM)Diabolical Artificer Wrote: I can never remember which is off/on, intuitively one would think the circle would be on, but it isn't, it's off, or is it?
Andy, would it help if you consider that the circle means 'open' and the line represents a link?
It's a big wide world out there and, with increased mobility, large numbers of us roam far and wide these days and can't expect everything to be translated into English for our benefit. And no, this is not EU related - we had Brits routinely grilling there bodies on the Costa del Sol for years before we even considered joining the Common Market!
There is a lot to be said for conformity - the same signage everywhere, for example - and it doesn't stop there. What would you do if confronted with a mains lead on a piece of vintage kit with black, grey and bright red conductors? [1] (Don't look yet!)
Many, many years ago I used to help a friend who organised trips to the Weize beer festival in Belgium every year. I was always fascinated by large doors everywhere with NOODUITGANG in bold letters painted on them - no signs of any kind. How would you translate that? [2] Of course you might never need to - I certainly didn't, thank goodness.
In the main we use the same road signs as Europe, so we don't have to wonder what they mean. However, on a recent short trip into Eire earlier this year, I was astounded to be greeted with lots of bright yellow US type signs! We were in a coach, so it didn't really matter to me.
So, what would you have done with that mains lead?
[1] Hopefully you would have carried out a few checks with a meter because, pre 1969, black was live, grey was neutral and that very brilliant shade of red indicated earth! I used to transfer a list that I cut out of a magazine into my pocket diary every year which showed the different colours used in a large number of European countries - not just the 6 in the EEC - until someone saw sense and came up with a scheme that was completely different to any of the previous schemes and we've observed it ever since.
[2] Uitgang is very obviously exit but the British mind is most likely to accept the entire word as meaning no exit which could prove rather unfortunate in some circumstances as it really means Emergency Exit!
