TT: Full Stop, Not Period
JANE: So, Alan, while we’re on the subject of British English, back when you sent me your retirement speech (which was very amusing), you used the term “full stop” to mean what we would call a “period.”
That’s well and good but, here in the U.S., the term “full stop” is used completely differently. I assume you folks have the equivalent of stop signs, right?
An Important Sign
ALAN: Yes. Strangely, we call them stop signs…
JANE: Smart aleck! I needed to check. For all I know, you could call them “Halt Posts” or something else in need of interpretation.
Getting back to my point, here a driver is supposed to come to a “full stop” at one of these signs. Far too often, drivers instead come to a “rolling stop” – which is just what it sounds like, slowing down, but not completely stopping.
So, what do you folks call the traffic “full stop”?
ALAN: We stop, or sometimes halt, at a stop sign. Not stopping (even if you can see that the way is clear) is an offence and you can be fined for it. So in those circumstances, the thing that you call a “rolling stop” is illegal.
JANE: It’s illegal here, too. However, some people still do it, especially when they think the way is clear. And I guess the terminology has evolved so that police officers have something to write on a citation or use when issuing a warning. “Ma’am, you must come to a full stop at a stop sign, but you only came to a rolling stop. That is not acceptable.”
ALAN: We do slow down at “Give Way” signs and at unsigned intersections (particularly if we don’t have right of way) and, if necessary, we stop. That slowing down probably corresponds to your “rolling stop,” but we don’t use the phrase.
JANE: “Give Way?” Hmm… That’s probably the equivalent of what we call a “Yield” sign. We’re not required to slow down at unsigned intersections at all. I’m not sure if that’s a very good custom because I think that contributes to people blowing through stop signs.
I wonder if traffic signs – at least as far as shape and color go – have been universalized? I’m not enough of a world traveler to know.
ALAN: There is an international standard for road signs – it’s known as the Vienna Convention. However, the signatories to the convention are mostly in Europe, though strangely Brazil, Chile and the countries in the Yucatan peninsula have also signed it.
The USA, Australia and New Zealand have not signed it. Despite that, I think there’s still a huge overlap – after all traffic is traffic is traffic. I imagine though that we have a fair bit of leeway and while I suspect you’d recognise most signs over here, we do have our idiosyncrasies. For example, there’s a road that Robin and I drive along which requires us to “Beware of Penguins” – there’s a stylised picture of a penguin along with the text. The road goes along the coast with the sea on one side of it and the penguins’ nesting area on the other. Needless to say, the penguins have right of way.
JANE: Oh! Send me a picture! That’s priceless!
Here in New Mexico, cows have right of way, but that’s not nearly as much fun as penguins.
ALAN: And in Australia you often see signs with a stylised black silhouette of a leaping kangaroo on a yellow background. Obviously “Beware of Kangaroos.” I once saw one of these signs that had been vandalised. Somebody had drawn a silhouette of black lumps falling out of the leaping kangaroo’s bottom. I laughed so hard when I saw it that I almost lost control of the car!
JANE: During our long drives to visit family (my mom lives part-time in Arizona; my dad used to live in Colorado), Jim and I frequently see signs announcing “Elk Next 50 miles” (mileage will vary). We eagerly look for elk, but have never yet seen one. We’ve seen buffalo, though… That was distinctly startling.
While I’ve never seen scatological vandalism, for the longest time every one of these elk signs would have a tiny crown painted over the elk. (I should clarify that, as with the Australian kangaroo, the elk was represented by a silhouette, not a word.)
This doubtless puzzled, and continues to puzzle, drivers. However, we heard that the reason for this was that the emblem of the regional chapter of the SCA was a crowned elk, and that someone decided to turn all these signs into the emblem.
ALAN: That’s the power of advertising for you. Nothing is sacred…
Actually, ignoring the road signs for the moment, there’s a very fundamental automotive difference between you and me. The fact that we drive on the left and much of the rest of the world drives on the right can be a source of confusion to most visitors to New Zealand. Many tourists hire cars and camper vans for their holiday and sadly there are quite a lot of injuries and deaths caused by the tourists having the wrong driving reflexes and reacting badly in a crisis. I once saw a car with a hand-lettered sign in the back window. It said: “American Tourist. Please be patient!” I thought that was an excellent idea. Perhaps such signs should be mandatory.
JANE: I agree!
ALAN: I must confess that I dread the thought of visiting a country like America and having to drive on the “wrong” side of the road. I think it would be very scary.
As a side effect though, when I read descriptions of car chases in American novels, I am completely unable to visualise what’s going on. The pictures of traffic in my head are all left handed and I simply cannot transpose the one onto the other. Like Winnie the Pooh, I am a bear of very little brain and I easily get confused.
JANE: I can understand why. I find your version very confusing.
As I’ve mentioned, Jim and I watch a lot of anime. Japanese drivers sit on the right side of the vehicle. We were recently waiting the very noir series Witch Hunter Robin. In this tale, there are several scenes where characters hold covert meetings in parked cars. I’ll admit, there’s been a time or two when what my brain persists on perceiving as the car’s driver gets out of the car. Then I jump when the car pulls out into traffic.
Who’s driving?!!
ALAN: Sometimes it’s the tiniest things that get in the way. In America, Australia and New Zealand, the signs on the motorways that tell you how far it is to the exit and where the exit road leads to are all white letters on a green background. However in England the motorway signs are white letters on a blue background. The first time I saw the green signs on a New Zealand motorway, I was quite flummoxed. It was far too foreign. It was wrong!
JANE: I’d feel the same way, too. Still, it might be safer… In New Zealand, those “right” colors might lead me to forget that I needed to drive on the wrong side.
ALAN: The scientist in me wants to do an experiment. Come for a visit, drive me somewhere, and let’s see what happens next.
JANE: Oh, lordy! That’s a terrifying prospect… Still, if Jim and I ever make it there, we’ll need to find a quiet road and experiment. Then you and I can write a Tangent about it!
