3 ms·

People have seen the symbols since childhood, and as far as I know in every European country it's necessary to pass the exam on knowing what they mean before st

• simonask 4mo ago
  Driving in Europe would be completely impossible without them. I have no idea what the Greek word for "no parking or stopping between 09 and 15" is, or the Croatian word for "left".
  • xp84 4mo ago
    I agree - to me, that is the main practical reason Europe is a special case well-suited to symbolic signs. The US doesn't have nearly that issue, since we have tons of symbolic signs, and few languages, which share a ton of close cognates anyway. For instance, most Mexicans I've heard will use the verb "parquear" or "aparcar" to mean "to park" rather than "estacionar" - so as you might expect, they have zero trouble decoding a sign saying "NO PARKING 9AM - 6PM" which is one of the most complicated text-only signs you usually see.
    • callmeal 4mo ago
      And then there's this one which always manages to horrify me: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyMiSEFyCg6O7bYvOfY4mVB7OjU2YdpnK2u_mVzidTbO423SDL3io41mfOhhEvsmW80uY7jUxVOBboGmbNyPCDasG9VhoXnyMiHu02fN-5VQFH2ilVUT3VLzCgJu-fcZ7wzkaC7Q/s1600/toi95-fay-1976.jpg https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh...