"_Bookmarquez_ ce lien." [NT]

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/27/2013 08:34 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>In honor of Wilson's [NT] catalogue of creeping
>anglicization, I can report that public service
>campaign against domestic violence on buses and
>trams here in Geneva at the moment includes one ubiquitous ad that reads
>
>STOP VIOLENCES À LA FAMILLE
>
>Apparently "stop" has really taken off in such
>contexts, though--the condom machines in the
>university promote their préservatifs with the
>plea "STOP SIDA" [= AIDS].  Maybe "STOP" just
>seems more insistent (and traffic-flic-y) than "ARRÊTEZ" would be.

The international standard for traffic signs
says, I think, that the stop sign may use English
(the word "Stop") or the national language.  I
suppose in Switzerland the risk of accidents
would be increased if their sign said

ARRÊTEZ
HALT
ARRESTO

-- or varied depending on the linguistic
region.  (The last might make an English-speaking
tourist lose control of his car because he
thought he was being ordered to raise both hands above his head.)

Joel

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