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To add some balance, they should include "identify all the roundabouts" so that folk from the USA are equally disadvantaged.
by dkdbejwi383 6y ago
To add some balance, they should include "identify all the roundabouts" so that folk from the USA are equally disadvantaged.
- durnygbur 6y agoFor Americans - "identify cyclist driving through the downtown"
- salawat 6y agoCyclists 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.
- oblio 6y agoFirst 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.
- salawat 6y agoUnfortunately, 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.
- durnygbur 6y ago> being ignored/cursed at I would certainly not wish to be ignored by wagons, trucks, and SUVs while cycling through American cities.
- salawat 6y agoI'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.
- deathanatos 6y agoAs 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…
- irrational 6y agoDepends 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).
- burlesona 6y agoHave 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”).
- umanwizard 6y agoWe always called them roundabouts, though “traffic circle” would have been easily understood. Maybe it’s a regional thing (I’m from Arizona).
- WarOnPrivacy 6y agoIn DC they're just Circle. Dupont, Thomas...
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoThey could just ask to decypher one of those parking signs as well: http://www.polisassist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/confusing-signs-min.jpg http://www.polisassist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/confus...
- hadrien01 6y agoWhat the hell is that thing?! Is that normal in the US?
- lordnacho 6y agoI 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.
- DominikPeters 6y agoWikipedia is interesting on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_the_United_State... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_on_Uniform_Traffic_Control_Devices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_on_Uniform_Traffic_Cont...
- hadrien01 6y agoThere's also a comparison between English-speaking countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_traffic_signs_in_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.
- mthoms 6y agoCanada is officially bilingual, so it makes sense that text-only signs are less common. Thanks for link, it was interesting to see.
- nlitened 6y ago“Identify free healthcare”
- dkdbejwi383 6y ago"Identify the best spot in the classroom to hide from the shooter"
- soneil 6y agoTangentially, we've been having fun with this recently. "Why haven't you completed Active Shooter Training?" "I'm busy, prioritising my time, and this training is irrelevant to me." "But what if there's an Active Shooter in the office?" "I've been working at home since April, and I've already been told to expect 6 months more." "It could still happen at home!" "What country do you think we're in?" Head Office seems to be really struggling to grasp that this training might be less relevant to other countries, other offices, let alone remote workers.
- awiesenhofer 6y agoWait, there is actually something like mandatory Active Shooter Training in US companies? For real?
- thatguy0900 6y agoI've never heard of it, personally
- tokai 6y ago"Although training is currently optional, businesses and organizations are beginning to face citations due to non-compliance with OSHA's guidelines regarding Workplace Violence.[3][4]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_shooter_training https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_shooter_training
- umanwizard 6y agoMaybe in some. Not in any I’ve worked for.
- yread 6y agoDistinguish socialism and social democracy
- mschuster91 6y agoDistinguish realsozialismus from what Americans think socialism is and from what was intended by Marx and Engels..
- umanwizard 6y agoApparently Europeans are bad at this too. Or do you think the French “socialist” party whose members have done things like lead the IMF is really socialist?
- Mordisquitos 6y agoDepending on context, the word "socialism" is polysemic in practice in a lot of places in Europe. As long as people are aware that the S for "Socialista" in Spanish governing party PSOE is used in the sense of "social-democrat", and not in the same sense as the 2nd S in USSR standing for "Socialist", it's fine.
- umanwizard 6y agoIndeed, you’re right. But isn’t this just restating my point? Americans don’t reliably distinguish between various left-of-center ideologies in their language, but that’s not uniquely American, because neither do Europeans.
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoI've heard lots of Trump supporters saying Biden is Communist; he seems just right of center to me. But it's about "othering", and USA have had a decades long programme making Communists into evil bogey men, so it's understandable from that perspective.
- 6y ago
- apexalpha 6y ago"Identify which of the following windows can tilt and turn."
- romanoderoma 6y ago"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"
- codethief 6y agoFor anyone else who didn't know about this: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vasistas https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vasistas
- framecowbird 6y agoTo be fair to the Americans, it seems like the word originated in France
- throwaway894345 6y agoAs an American, I’ve never heard of this word. Strange stereotype.
- isbvhodnvemrwvn 6y agoSemi-related- in Poland when you speak about something you don't know the name of you often call it "wihajster" (Wie heißt er?)
- DarkWiiPlayer 6y agoYou 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.
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoTrick question? The bullet typically comes out the end, the cartridge/casing comes out the side/top.
- throwaway894345 6y agoMoreover there are guns for lefties where the casing is ejected from the other side...
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoOoh, 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.
- DarkWiiPlayer 6y agoP-90 ejects casings straight down, iirc (Not a gun person myself, btw. just internet-smart)
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoYeah, I saw some handguns that seemed to eject directly upwards. I guess you get burnt hands.
- C19is20 6y agoPronounce "Herb". Correctly, this time.
- dkdbejwi383 6y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXBHY7uco0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXBHY7uco0Y
- ChrisRR 6y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw "Really? 'erbs? You're french now?"
- tzot 6y agoI 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”.
- throwaway894345 6y agoI don’t understand the rebuttal. Is American English supposed to be more French-influenced than UK English?
- joshuaissac 6y agoIt 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_Revolutionary_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_in_the_American_Revolut...
- throwaway894345 6y agoAh. That's not a very sharp barb considering the significant power differential between England and the Revolutionists at the time.