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Comment by dkdbejwi383 | Hacker News Reader

To add some balance, they should include "identify all the roundabouts" so that folk from the USA are equally disadvantaged.

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They could just ask to decypher one of those parking signs as well: http://www.polisassist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/confus...

What the hell is that thing?! Is that normal in the US?

I rented a car there and I was amazed at how much text there was, instead of symbols. Eg they have signs in turning lanes that say "Right lane must turn right". By the time you've read that, you've turned right.

Wikipedia is interesting on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_the_United_State... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_on_Uniform_Traffic_Cont...

There's also a comparison between English-speaking countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_traffic_signs_in...

I find it interesting how the US uses text for almost everything, and how Canada is sort of a mix of US-style and European-style signs.

Canada is officially bilingual, so it makes sense that text-only signs are less common.

Thanks for link, it was interesting to see.

That is not normal.

That said, it’s not too bad. It’s long and the organization is bad but the policy is reasonableish.

There’s street cleaning one day a week (year round) 11am-1pm, and you can’t ever park then.

It’s a school zone as well; when school is in session you can park for 15 minutes in the afternoon to drop a kid off or for 1 hour to pick the kid up. When school is out you just need to avoid the street cleaning.

I'm not American, and I agree there is a lot of information there, but it seems reasonably sane if you read through it.

I don't see any obvious contradictions. You can't park 11-1 tuesday due to street cleaning. You can't stop there mon-fri 7:30-16:00 with the exception of 7:30-8 for school business (dropping the kids off). You can park mon-fri between 4 and 6, once per day, per district (to pick up your kids after school), district permits (people who live there, not sure what the 4 means) are exempt.

Even so, it's easy to make a mistake with that much information so poorly organized. There are better alternatives out there, like this:

https://www.lamag.com/driver/hidden-costs-parking-signs-easy...

Would be even better with 24-hour clock.

Us 24 hour clock fanbois are outcasts - just like us 28 day month people

Oh I absolutely agree. I'm not defending it, just pointing out that it's not totally insane. Here in the UK I've never seen anything that nuts however.

I am American, and it confuses me, which perhaps proves the point.

In particular, why is it necessary to point out that parking is prohibited from 11 to 1 on Tuesday, when stopping of any kind is already prohibited on a superset of that time (7:30-4 M-F)?

It's not M-F, it's school days, i.e. not in school holidays?

I read “tow-away school days” and “No stopping M-F” as separate regulations, because they are divided by a horizontal line.

I don’t drive anymore (and when I did, it was mainly in suburbs) so perhaps I’m just not familiar with conventions?

Look at the bottom bolt on the "No Parking" sign: It's partially covered by the later-added "No Stopping" sign.

Also, because this is apparently in a school zone, you have to think about how stopping is different from parking: You don't have to pull into a parking zone to drop off your kid, you can just stop momentarily in the middle of the street. During the non-overlap hours, you can pull over and park, just not stop in the street.

I assume the 4 means parking district four. They give people some limited room to hunt for street parking near their home by breaking the city into small districts.

https://www.culvercity.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=1928

it seems reasonably sane if you read through it.

It doesn't matter if it seems sane that way. How many seconds does a driver have to read through that all when he's driving near the speed limit? Do we expect drivers to still keep an eye on the road while trying to decipher it? Do we expect every driver to slam on the brakes, and stand still until they've parsed it all?

I think the idea is you stop, read the sign (probably need to get out of the car), then either stay or go after parsing. Or if you're a regular you learn the rules that apply to you.

But it includes "No Stopping" and you need to read the fine print to find out when :)

For Americans - "identify cyclist driving through the downtown"

Cyclists ride. They do not drive. Drive implies you aren't the prime mover in the mechanism (i.e., an engine is doing the work, and you're merely performing the task of executive signaling and control to that set of movers and systems carrying you along do so. The inflection point is actually legal in nature; in that once you slap a motor on it, you require licensure, because you're driving now. This is also why I disagree with driving being a privilege granted by the State; I'm not big on large edifi telling me I can only utilize mechanical devices at their whim, but such is life, yes, I've had the argument before, no I'm not going into it now).

A cyclist, however is the mechanism. You can make the argument that it's silly, but I'll bet you more people will look at you funny for saying cyclists drive than for saying the operator of a motor vehicle rides especially given the legal baggage that comes with driving.

Aside from that, they're quite easy to identify. They're usually the ones either breaking traffic laws, or being ignored/cursed at because their mere existance increases the volatility of motor vehicle traffic patterns in urban environments.

First of all, they've self identified as non-American and presumably not a native English speaker. You could have presented the difference between drive and ride with less pedantry.

Secondly, cities with large numbers of cyclists tend to have better, not worse traffic. It's obvious why: fewer people driving plus infrastructure for bikes is developed and separated from car infrastructure. You should wish for more cyclists, not fewer.

Unfortunately, you can't escape the need for pedantry as a native speaker, and as a non-native (which I sssumed they were), I generally find they appreciate th clarification.

Arguably, what makes motor traffic "flow better" is increased predictability, and decreased demand on shared infrastructure. I'm not condemning all cyclists or saying it isn't worthwhil; merely that the arrangements we've got with them being sometimes pedestrians/sometimes road users leads to a cultural clash that leaves everyone frustrated.

The entire urban network architecture leaves quite a lot to be desired.

> being ignored/cursed at

I would certainly not wish to be ignored by wagons, trucks, and SUVs while cycling through American cities.

I'm not one of those who ignores them. Quite to the contrary. I've been known to roll down the window and ask someone to please pull ahead of my A-pillar.

I speak only from having seen others behavior.

As an American cyclist who frequented SF… this gave me a good chuckle, thank you.

True story: Had a driver who swerved from the left-hand lane, across a lane of traffic, across the bike lane, and into a drive way, after I yelled at him (while rapidly braking) tell me "I didn't see you." I've got 3 reflectors (from his PoV), I'm wearing long sleeves reflective highlighter safety orange, and it's daylight…

"Identify which of the following windows can tilt and turn."

"Identify which country calls them vasistas because Germans used to ask "was ist das?" from a smaller aperture on the door before opening the actual door"

For anyone else who didn't know about this:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vasistas

To be fair to the Americans, it seems like the word originated in France

As an American, I’ve never heard of this word. Strange stereotype.

Semi-related- in Poland when you speak about something you don't know the name of you often call it "wihajster" (Wie heißt er?)

Depends on the part of the USA. We have tons of roundabouts in the part of the USA I live in. Everything from tiny ones on neighborhoods up to huge multi lane ones (though nothing as crazy as some of the ones I’ve seen in Britain).

Have driven all over the US, and while roundabouts (aka traffic circles) are more common in the northeast, they’re common enough all over that I doubt anyone would struggle with that captcha. /Maybe/ some people would trip over the wording (expecting traffic circle and unfamiliar with “roundabout”).

We always called them roundabouts, though “traffic circle” would have been easily understood. Maybe it’s a regional thing (I’m from Arizona).

In DC they're just Circle. Dupont, Thomas...

“Identify free healthcare”

"Identify the fake news"

Pronounce "Herb". Correctly, this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXBHY7uco0Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw

"Really? 'erbs? You're french now?"

I remember a flame war between US-English and UK-English speakers, where one of the former said “if it weren't for us, you'd be speaking German now” and one of the latter ones said “if it weren't for the French, you'd still speak English now”.

I don’t understand the rebuttal. Is American English supposed to be more French-influenced than UK English?

It is a reference to the assistance provided by France to help the American colonies (and later the United States) rebel against the British Empire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_in_the_American_Revolut...

Ah. That's not a very sharp barb considering the significant power differential between England and the Revolutionists at the time.

I think the key part of the joke is that Americans don't speak proper English.

Like random3821 commented, it's about American English not being “proper” English (while supposedly if the US of A were a British colony, it would be “proper”.)

To be fair, the “h” was silent in UK English when the English colonized America, and then the English began pronouncing the “h” at a later point. UK English deviates from the common ancestor surprisingly frequently.

I used to have an english boss who used this retort frequently. That was until I asked him how he pronounced the name of his quintessential made-in-England roadster. You know, his Caterham.

For those not in the know, it is pronounced Kate-rum. The second syllable is normally pronounced as if it should not exist, you move as quickly from the t sound to the m sound as you can. Same thing as Leicester (phonetically leh-str)

You can further improve this by adding a load-balancing mechanism:

> Click on the side of the gun where the bullet comes out from

Pretty much 50% of Americans will find this impossible while the other half will have no problem whatsoever.

Trick question? The bullet typically comes out the end, the cartridge/casing comes out the side/top.

Moreover there are guns for lefties where the casing is ejected from the other side...

Ooh, do you know of any? I had a look, to fact check, but all I found was advice for lefties on using 'right-handed' guns. Not doubting, just curious.

P-90 ejects casings straight down, iirc (Not a gun person myself, btw. just internet-smart)

Yeah, I saw some handguns that seemed to eject directly upwards. I guess you get burnt hands.

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