We find England's tendency to say things in a long-winded, roundabout way very entertaining. For example, signs never say "EXIT", they say "WAY OUT". And dish soap is called "washing up liquid". People also have a tendency to rephrase their point three times before they finish talking. Listeners are obliged to nod patiently while the person goes on and on, but what we really want to do is say "yes, the postman was late today, got it."
Anyway the other day we found the perfect example of this. Here is the English version of "Fragile: don't touch!" But by the time any kid has finished reading this long, boring sign, you can bet their sticky little fingers have been all over the "fragile and easily damaged specimens on display".
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It would be inaccurate to say that I do not love the sign which is pictured above and described in the corresponding post.
I tried to explain to Lance about the "longisms" when I got home. I had the hardest time explaining it to him! That old man at the bus stop that kept saying the same thing to us over and over again was a perfect example, at first I thought he was just a bit loopy, until you explained to me that they just want to make sure they get their point across!
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