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From: mazlack@ernie.BERKELEY.EDU (Lawrence J. &)
Newsgroups: net.travel
Subject: Re: paris, france
Message-ID: <11248@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Sun, 15-Dec-85 17:46:35 EST
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Posted: Sun Dec 15 17:46:35 1985
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Reply-To: mazlack@ernie.UUCP (Lawrence J. Mazlack)
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>Ever see a multi-lingual phone in France, or any where else in Europe?

Yes.  Actually most European telephone systems have multi-lingual operators.
Call up and ask for help in one of the main European tongues and you will
get it.

>My brother had a different experience in France. In the international
>section of the Paris airport, he approached a police officer and asked
>"Where is the bathroom." The officer shook his head, so my brother asked
>again in German, and then in Spanish - still no luck. Finally he pointed
>toward his fly and shouted PISS. Somehow, the officer seemed to understand.

Acutually, this is another example of American pruience.  I doubt if your
brother wanted to take a BATH, he wanted to PISS.  If he had asked for
a toilet (which is what it is), most likely, he would have been
satisfactorily directed.  (Many European toilets are in separate rooms from
bath tubs and showers, and vica versa.)  Actually, if the word 
"toilet" is too embarresing to use, use the generally accepted European
WC - which is an English abbreviation for Water Closet.

...Larry Mazlack