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Subject: 
Re: Autoroute!=Towing, right?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.db.brictionary
Date: 
Tue, 10 Sep 2002 20:45:29 GMT
Viewed: 
3115 times
  
"Pedro Silva" <el_gordo@netc.pt> writes:
In lugnet.db.brictionary, Larry Pieniazek writes:
While we are considering a change, I'd actually like to stump for autobahn
rather than autoroute. Although it's a German word, it's almost universally
understood to mean freeway (or interstate, or limited access dual
carriageway, or motorway, or autostrada, or whatever), no matter the
language. Thus it's potentially superior to autoroute, which I had never
heard of before, and I suspect most american speakers haven't.

I submit it's the most universal word for this concept the planet has. Even
if it isn't english.

I disagree, outside of Central Europe the word is not much known; the French
alternative is more common in the ROTW.
Besides, the French word is much more recogniseable for speakers of other
languages. "Bahn" is not at all clear outside of the German speaking
nations, it's too "unsimilar" to any other word with the same meaning. OTOH,
"route" has roughly the same meaning both in French and English, apart from
being easily understood in other languages.

I think that most Americans would know immediately what "autobahn"
means.  But I can't speak for people anywhere else.  In the US, the
autobahns are infamous for their lack of a speed limit.  That makes
most American drivers very jealous.  (Of course, many do have a speed
limit, but that's not widely known here.)

Note that "freeway" is not unversally used in the US, though I would
say it is unversally recognized.

How about a different approach - "Overpass Logo"?  Is the word
"overpass" used worldwide?  (If not, it means a bridge that carries a
road over a freeway/autoroute/autobahn/whatever).

--Bill.

--
William R Ward            bill@wards.net          http://www.wards.net/~bill/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      Verbing weirds language.  --Calvin



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Autoroute!=Towing, right?
 
(...) I just ran a search on google, and it gave me a new word which I think can be of universal understanding: Expressway! Here's the link: (URL) note that the background of the sign is usually blue, not green - AFAIK, green backgrounds are only (...) (22 years ago, 10-Sep-02, to lugnet.db.brictionary)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Autoroute!=Towing, right?
 
(...) I disagree, outside of Central Europe the word is not much known; the French alternative is more common in the ROTW. Besides, the French word is much more recogniseable for speakers of other languages. "Bahn" is not at all clear outside of the (...) (22 years ago, 10-Sep-02, to lugnet.db.brictionary)

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