Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!maytag!aries5!giguere
From: giguere@aries5.uucp (Eric Giguere)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: STOP vs ARRET
Message-ID: <428@maytag.waterloo.edu>
Date: 30 Aug 89 22:31:16 GMT
References: <28782@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Sender: daemon@maytag.waterloo.edu
Reply-To: giguere@aries5.waterloo.edu (Eric Giguere)
Distribution: can
Organization: Computer Systems Group, University of Waterloo
Lines: 19

In article <28782@watmath.waterloo.edu> Stewart.Clamen%CLAMEN.AVALON.CS.CMU.EDU@watmath.waterloo.edu writes:
>Actually, the reason why ARRET looks silly to me is because it is the
>wrong part of speech.  Most of the other signs are in the imperative
>(Yield, Do Not Enter) and I've always assumed that the "Stop" on
>international STOP signs was an imperative verb, as opposed to the
>noun, which "Arret" implies.

While the imperative verb is definitely used more frequently, you see the
occasional nouns.  These are mostly in pictorial form, though, such as the
sign indicating a railway crossing.  "Arret" just denotes "un arret".  The
problem with "Arretez" is that it is longer than "Arret".

They avoid this problem at the Universite de Sherbrooke by using a pictogram
for the stop sign (the palm of a hand inside a red octagon).

Eric Giguere                                  268 Phillip St #CL-46
For the curious: it's French ("jee-gair")     Waterloo, Ontario  N2L 6G9
Bitnet  : GIGUERE at WATCSG                   (519) 746-6565
Internet: giguere@aries5.UWaterloo.ca         "Nothing but urges from HELL!!"