Re: Seen in the wild - number formating

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 10:38:14 +1100
Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

> On 04/01/22 02:07, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> > On 2022-01-03 14:31:54 +0000, Ruud Harmsen said:
>
> >> The UK is officially metric now, although in practice you mileage
> >> may vary. In 1999 or so in Ireland (officially metric for years
> >> already) they had speed limits in both miles and kilometers here
> >> and there, and you were supposed to deduct from context which was
> >> which. 30 in a town probably meant 50 km/h, 50 on a rural road
> >> meant 80 km/s.
> >
> > In 1990 or so we went with a colleague in a car that he had rented
> > at Cork airport to Killarney. We found it extremely difficult to
> > decide whether the signs were in km or miles. The car itself had a
> > gauge of course, but again, it wasn't clear what it was measuring.
>
> Ireland is not strong on road signs. A lot of roads don't even have
> names, or if they do have them there's no signage to say what the name
> is, which is no fun if you're trying to find someone's house. You just
> have to use your intuition, or stop frequently and ask the locals for
> directions.
>
> A notable feature of driving west from Cork is that past a certain point
> in West Cork all the English-language signs disappear. Although at some
> places popular with tourists you do get multilingual signs asking you to
> drive on the left.
>

You'll (see what I did there?) be needing an Irish resident to help out on that.

xposted to ye shedde, as there is a personage of that ilk who might chip in.

For xposters: beware S K, Baramjee (sp?) and of course all incarnations of Peeler.
PTD is erm a local celebrity.

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 17:26:02 +0000
"Kerr-Mudd, John" <ad...@127.0.0.1> wrote:

> On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 10:38:14 +1100
> Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>
> > On 04/01/22 02:07, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> > > On 2022-01-03 14:31:54 +0000, Ruud Harmsen said:
> >
> > >> The UK is officially metric now, although in practice you mileage
> > >> may vary. In 1999 or so in Ireland (officially metric for years
> > >> already) they had speed limits in both miles and kilometers here
> > >> and there, and you were supposed to deduct from context which was
> > >> which. 30 in a town probably meant 50 km/h, 50 on a rural road
> > >> meant 80 km/s.
> > >
> > > In 1990 or so we went with a colleague in a car that he had rented
> > > at Cork airport to Killarney. We found it extremely difficult to
> > > decide whether the signs were in km or miles. The car itself had a
> > > gauge of course, but again, it wasn't clear what it was measuring.

Ah yes around that time most of the distance signs were in km but
the speed limit signs were all in mph, not that you wouldn't find the
occasional old distance sign in miles but they were all supposed to be in
km.

The speed limit signs remained in mph until 20 January 2005 when
every speed limit sign in the country was changed overnight - seriously I
have yet to see one they missed. I was astonished.

> > Ireland is not strong on road signs. A lot of roads don't even have

There is a fad that passes through from time to time for rotating
road signs so that they point in incorrect directions - this causes
tourists to visit all sorts of unintended places.

Another favourite road sign habit becomes apparent when you've been
following signs to some small town and you reach a T junction in the middle
of nowhere. There's a sign alright but neither leg mentions your
destination or anything you can find on the map. When a tractor passes you
may understand a word or two the helpful driver says[1] in response to your
request for directions.

> > names, or if they do have them there's no signage to say what the name

Oh they do have names, often they have several names most of them
only known to a few. Many round here were surprised to find that the road
known to most of us as "The Dale Road" (or "The Bog Road" but there are a
lot of them) was known to the local council as "The Rathscannel Road".

> > is, which is no fun if you're trying to find someone's house. You just
> > have to use your intuition, or stop frequently and ask the locals for
> > directions.

House addresses don't usually mention the road or a house number
(except in cities where they have things like that) usually just the
occupant's name and the townland (mine is about 350 hectares) is enough for
the postman.

> > A notable feature of driving west from Cork is that past a certain point
> > in West Cork all the English-language signs disappear. Although at some

You've entered the Gaeltacht where they pretend^Wprefer not to speak
English - TBF some really don't speak English.

> You'll (see what I did there?) be needing an Irish resident to help out
> on that.
>
> xposted to ye shedde, as there is a personage of that ilk who might chip
> in.

Hi there, welcome to ye shedde, pull up a bloo circle bag and mind
your cardie on the nail.

[1] Oh if you're going there you don't want to be starting from here but
let's see now there's the quick way or the easy way ...

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

[Tony Cooper]

On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 19:29:05 +0000, Ahem A Rivet's Shot
<ste...@eircom.net> wrote:

>On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 17:26:02 +0000
>"Kerr-Mudd, John" <ad...@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 10:38:14 +1100
>> Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> > On 04/01/22 02:07, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
>> > > On 2022-01-03 14:31:54 +0000, Ruud Harmsen said:
>> >
>> > >> The UK is officially metric now, although in practice you mileage
>> > >> may vary. In 1999 or so in Ireland (officially metric for years
>> > >> already) they had speed limits in both miles and kilometers here
>> > >> and there, and you were supposed to deduct from context which was
>> > >> which. 30 in a town probably meant 50 km/h, 50 on a rural road
>> > >> meant 80 km/s.
>> > >
>> > > In 1990 or so we went with a colleague in a car that he had rented

>> > > at Cork airport to Killarney. We found it extremely dif?cult to

A photograph taken in Ireland in 1984. Someone who can figure out
what the units were, and is familiar with the area, can probably
figure out where I was when I was 17 1/4 units from Galway and 5 units
from Kinvera. Probably on the M67 north of Dunguaire Castle.


https://folio.ink/EQhQiW
--

Tony Cooper Orlando Florida

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

On Tue, 04 Jan 2022 14:58:16 -0500
Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:

> A photograph taken in Ireland in 1984. Someone who can figure out
> what the units were, and is familiar with the area, can probably
> figure out where I was when I was 17 1/4 units from Galway and 5 units
> from Kinvera. Probably on the M67 north of Dunguaire Castle.

Those are probably miles judging by the age and condition of the
sign - also the 1/4s are a bit of a giveaway.

[maus]

On 2022-01-04, Kerr-Mudd, John <ad...@127.0.0.1> wrote:
> On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 10:38:14 +1100
> Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 04/01/22 02:07, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
>> > On 2022-01-03 14:31:54 +0000, Ruud Harmsen said:
>>
>> >> The UK is officially metric now, although in practice you mileage
>> >> may vary. In 1999 or so in Ireland (officially metric for years
>> >> already) they had speed limits in both miles and kilometers here
>> >> and there, and you were supposed to deduct from context which was
>> >> which. 30 in a town probably meant 50 km/h, 50 on a rural road
>> >> meant 80 km/s.
>> >
>> > In 1990 or so we went with a colleague in a car that he had rented
>> > at Cork airport to Killarney. We found it extremely difficult to
>> > decide whether the signs were in km or miles. The car itself had a
>> > gauge of course, but again, it wasn't clear what it was measuring.
>>
>> Ireland is not strong on road signs. A lot of roads don't even have
>> names, or if they do have them there's no signage to say what the name
>> is, which is no fun if you're trying to find someone's house. You just
>> have to use your intuition, or stop frequently and ask the locals for
>> directions.
>>
>> A notable feature of driving west from Cork is that past a certain point
>> in West Cork all the English-language signs disappear. Although at some
>> places popular with tourists you do get multilingual signs asking you to
>> drive on the left.

Once, at some time in recent 100 years, after the british left this end
of the country, there were parts still with a majority Gaelic speaking
people, and the new Irish goverment defined them as special areas, and
wanted the whole country to become Gaelic Speaking. THose areas have
shrank since, instead of expanding, so there are places where the signs
are in Gaelic, wheras the people mostly have changed to speaking Englis.

Anyone interested in it can ask, most of us use what language we find
useful, Up North, where they lurrve something to argue about, the Gaelic
Language is still popular with some of the population, while the other
lot are falling in love with `Lallans'.

Polite people do not talk about the subject.

[maus]

aI know of at least two places where the road signs have two panels
pointing towards the same destination, but on different roads, one in Waterford,
and anothere in West Cork. Up North, things are defined slightly
different different. Once, most Irish people lived in small villages,
rather than towns.

There was a story of a man stopping on a Road in kerry and asking for
directions, and was told to go back where he started and try again.

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

On 6 Jan 2022 17:10:26 GMT

maus <ma...@dmaus.org> wrote:

> aI know of at least two places where the road signs have two panels
> pointing towards the same destination, but on different roads, one in
> Waterford, and anothere in West Cork. Up North, things are defined

There's another in Limerick - two exits of one roundabout both
lead to Tralee one via Adare the other via Tarbert.

> There was a story of a man stopping on a Road in kerry and asking for
> directions, and was told to go back where he started and try again.

Yep that sounds likely, probably the right advice too.

[Richard Robinson]

Not even in Russian ?



--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

[maus]

On 2022-01-08, Richard Robinson <rich...@privacy.net> wrote:
> maus said:
>> On 2022-01-04, Kerr-Mudd, John <ad...@127.0.0.1> wrote:
>>> Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>>>> On 04/01/22 02:07, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
>>>> > On 2022-01-03 14:31:54 +0000, Ruud Harmsen said:
>>>>
>>>> >> The UK is officially metric now, although in practice you mileage
>>>> >> may vary. In 1999 or so in Ireland (officially metric for years
>>>> >> already) they had speed limits in both miles and kilometers here
>>>> >> and there, and you were supposed to deduct from context which was
>>>> >> which. 30 in a town probably meant 50 km/h, 50 on a rural road
>>>> >> meant 80 km/s.
>>>> >
>>>> > In 1990 or so we went with a colleague in a car that he had rented
>>>> > at Cork airport to Killarney. We found it extremely difficult to
>>>> > decide whether the signs were in km or miles. The car itself had a
>>>> > gauge of course, but again, it wasn't clear what it was measuring.
>>>>
>>

>> Anyone interested in it can ask, most of us use what language we find
>> useful, Up North, where they lurrve something to argue about, the Gaelic
>> Language is still popular with some of the population, while the other
>> lot are falling in love with `Lallans'.
>>
>> Polite people do not talk about the subject.
>
> Not even in Russian ?

russian or ukranian?
>
>
>

[Mike Fleming]

On 06/01/2022 16:51, maus wrote:
>
> Once, at some time in recent 100 years, after the british left this end
> of the country, there were parts still with a majority Gaelic speaking
> people, and the new Irish goverment defined them as special areas, and
> wanted the whole country to become Gaelic Speaking. THose areas have
> shrank since, instead of expanding, so there are places where the signs
> are in Gaelic, wheras the people mostly have changed to speaking Englis.
>
> Anyone interested in it can ask, most of us use what language we find
> useful, Up North, where they lurrve something to argue about, the Gaelic
> Language is still popular with some of the population, while the other
> lot are falling in love with `Lallans'.
>
> Polite people do not talk about the subject.

My mum, who was from Cork, was taught Gaelic at fpubby (born 1929) but
by the time I got round to talking to her about it (somewhere around
1970) she'd forgotten it all. I think the only sentence she remembered
was the Gaelic for "one black beetle knows another black beetle",
possibly because it was appropriate for the city that the Volkswagen
plant was close to (but probably not).

[Richard Robinson]

I wouldn't want to speculate as to what language the polite people of Belfast
don't talk in. I'm guessing there'd be more than one.

Which is why I am miming this in Braille.

[Nicholas D. Richards]

In article <slrnstjkj...@dmaus.org>, maus <ma...@dmaus.org> on
Sat, 8 Jan 2022 at 18:05:27 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote

Or an Ersewhile language?

--
0sterc@tcher -

"Oů sont les neiges d'antan?"

[Sam Plusnet]

On 09-Jan-22 10:53, Richard Robinson wrote:

> I wouldn't want to speculate as to what language the polite people of Belfast
> don't talk in. I'm guessing there'd be more than one.
>
> Which is why I am miming this in Braille.

That's dotty!


--
Sam Plusnet

[Nicholas D. Richards]

In article <0dJCJ.19979$Fpb6....@fx12.ams1>, Sam Plusnet
<n...@home.com> on Sun, 9 Jan 2022 at 22:20:44 awoke Nicholas from his
slumbers and wrote

That's impressive.

[Tone]

On 09/01/2022 22:41, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
> In article <0dJCJ.19979$Fpb6....@fx12.ams1>, Sam Plusnet
> <n...@home.com> on Sun, 9 Jan 2022 at 22:20:44 awoke Nicholas from his
> slumbers and wrote
>> On 09-Jan-22 10:53, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>
>>> I wouldn't want to speculate as to what language the polite people of Belfast
>>> don't talk in. I'm guessing there'd be more than one.
>>>
>>> Which is why I am miming this in Braille.
>>
>> That's dotty!
>>
> That's impressive.

He obviously has a feel for it.

Tone

[Richard Robinson]

No, she's the one doing the sign-language.