"Except for Access" - English vs. American English
#1
"Except for Access" - English vs. American English
So I had a birthday party yesterday in Hong Kong that was in a park on the end of a road that had a "no vehicles, except for access" sign on it. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get to the park, so I was googling the exact rules when I came across this post about how "except for access" is read by Americans English versus British English.
Language Log ยป Except for access
fwiw I drove anyway and found dozens of other cars who just didn't care about the sign either.
Language Log ยป Except for access
fwiw I drove anyway and found dozens of other cars who just didn't care about the sign either.
#2
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
Surely it just means 'no through road,' so that doesn't preclude entering and parking.
#4
Heading for Poppyland
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: North Norfolk and northern New York State
Posts: 14,526
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
Exactly. I read that wordy blog post linked by the OP here, and the writer doesn't really make it clear why this is confusing to Americans. I'd always assumed that the sign meant it was OK for deliveries, for instance.
#5
Heading for Poppyland
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: North Norfolk and northern New York State
Posts: 14,526
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
Ah OK. But I wonder if that was also the case with the sign photographed in the link in your first post ...
#6
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
Well I think the meaning is completely clear: "do not enter, unless you need access to a property that can only be accessed from this road". That said, I don't think it has been properly applied if the road is a dead end, UNLESS the authorities are concerned about people driving in there and parking and then walking somewhere else.
My first thought was "Americans are idiots", but then I realised that the phase and discussion thereof in the linked page might actually be informative about a fairly frequent criticism that Mrs P makes of me - that I will say something that is totally clear to me, but has left out half or more, sometimes a lot more, of the words that are required to make the phrase "legally watertight", such that Mrs P not only fails to understand what I meant, but sometimes "understands" something completely different, if not directly the opposite, to what I actually meant. ..... My use of sarcasm further compounds the problem.
Example - after a short discussion on the phone last weekend about me coming home for breakfast after taking the cat to the vet early on Saturday morning, and whther we should have breakfast at home or go out for breakfast, we agreed to go to a restaurant. I closed the conversation, after agreeing which restaurant to go to, with "OK, I'll see you there.", and I hung up. After waiting for about ten minutes at the restaurant I phoned to find out where Mrs P was, I find out that she's still at home, waiting for me!
I still can't readily construe any meaning of "see you there" that would mean I was "going home", but I can see that more words would have made it clearer; clearer, but not changed the underlying meaning: "I'll meet you, not here (where I am now), nor home, where you are now, but a place 'there' (that we discussed ten seconds ago ) that is where neither you nor I are at the moment."
My first thought was "Americans are idiots", but then I realised that the phase and discussion thereof in the linked page might actually be informative about a fairly frequent criticism that Mrs P makes of me - that I will say something that is totally clear to me, but has left out half or more, sometimes a lot more, of the words that are required to make the phrase "legally watertight", such that Mrs P not only fails to understand what I meant, but sometimes "understands" something completely different, if not directly the opposite, to what I actually meant. ..... My use of sarcasm further compounds the problem.
Example - after a short discussion on the phone last weekend about me coming home for breakfast after taking the cat to the vet early on Saturday morning, and whther we should have breakfast at home or go out for breakfast, we agreed to go to a restaurant. I closed the conversation, after agreeing which restaurant to go to, with "OK, I'll see you there.", and I hung up. After waiting for about ten minutes at the restaurant I phoned to find out where Mrs P was, I find out that she's still at home, waiting for me!
I still can't readily construe any meaning of "see you there" that would mean I was "going home", but I can see that more words would have made it clearer; clearer, but not changed the underlying meaning: "I'll meet you, not here (where I am now), nor home, where you are now, but a place 'there' (that we discussed ten seconds ago ) that is where neither you nor I are at the moment."
Last edited by Pulaski; Nov 24th 2014 at 10:52 am.
#7
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
When my (usually) through road was closed because of road work at the midpoint earlier this year, the signs at either end read "Road closed, access only," which to me meant one couldn't get through, but one could enter to get to the houses or make a delivery. I see your point that it may make sense if it is language one sees regularly, and not if it is unfamiliar.
#8
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
Well I think the meaning is completely clear: "do not enter, unless you need access to a property that can only be accessed from this road". That said, I don't think it has been properly applied if the road is a dead end, UNLESS the authorities are concerned about people driving in there and parking and then walking somewhere else.
#9
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2012
Location: bute
Posts: 9,740
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
"Our signs mean whatever the Ministry of the Interior wants them to mean !"
#10
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
I think to an American "access" means "accessing" the road, not accessing a property along the road. As such the sign reads like "no driving on this road unless you are driving".
#11
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
"Except for Access" is never used.
#12
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
Except that "private road" means exactly that, it is privately owned and maintained, and access is restricted because the owner doesn't want all and sundry traipsing down his/her road. An "except for access road" is state maintained, but with restricted access.
#13
Re: "Except for Access" - English vs. American English
To me it means only drive down here if you absolutely have to.