Friday foolishness: foreign words

[Anne Lambert]

A friend of mine went to Germany with us and wondered why so many streets in
Hamburg were named "Einbahnstrasse."  (One-way street.)

"Peter A. McGraw" wrote:

> Some of these sound slightly suspect, but I can add a real one.  Driving
> through France (in the 50s), we kept seeing signs pointing out a "voie
> unique."  After a while we began to wonder why they kept alerting us to
> "unique views" in places which struck us as scenically unremarkable at
> best.  Sometimes, in fact, all there seemed to be to look at was a road
> construction site.
>
> Eventually it occurred to someone to look in a dictionary, which revealed
> that "voie unique" meant single lane, i.e. one-way traffic.
>
> Peter Mc.
>
> --On Fri, Sep 15, 2000 1:12 PM +0000 AAllan at AOL.COM wrote:
>
> > From an Australian columnist
> > http://www.smh.com.au:80/news/0009/11/text/column8.html
> >
> > We tapped a rich lode of anecdotes when we told the story of Catherine
> > Conlon, who traipsed all over Rome following signs and looking for Senso
> > Unico - then found it meant One Way (Column 8, September 2). David Rich ,
> > of Wahroonga, driving in Germany, was baffled by signs to Umleitung at
> > some crossroads. The dictionary finally provided the answer: Diversion.
> > Arriving in Buenos Aires late at night, and wanting to report a theft to
> > police, Fay and Morrie Robinson, of Bondi, left their hotel on foot and
> > without a map - but they noted from a sign that they were staying right
> > next to the Jockey Club. Later, trying to retrace their steps, they found
> > there were a lot of Jockey Club signs - it's a brand of cigarette. Gerry
> > Freed, of Mt Ousley, said many hours were wasted looking for the little
> > German town of Ausgang. "Signs to it appear on all the autobahns, but
> > locals are unhelpful when you ask directions." George Grosz, of Randwick,
> > got a postcard from a friend travelling in Italy: "Greetings from Olio
> > Sasso". He'd glimpsed the name on a railway station - it's a brand of
> > olive oil.
> >
> > - Allan Metcalf
>
> ****************************************************************************
>                                Peter A. McGraw
>                    Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
>                             pmcgraw at linfield.edu