Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Really difficult to read street signs

I was listening to the radio on my way to work today and heard that the VANOC committee (that oversees planning and execution of Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics) is asking the federal government for 2 million dollars to make all the signs from Richmond to Whistler bilingual.

The radio jockeys were joking around and saying how we need all the signs that say "Olympics" to say "Olympiques" as well. It was mutually understood by all that French is a major component of Canadian heritage, even if Mandarin and Hindi speakers outnumber the Quebecois in BC a billion to one. The DJs joked that, if French is required to be on the signs, then we might as well add Chinese and Sanskrit as well to be fair to all.

Funny as it may be, I can almost imagine these signs popping up here and there all over Vancouver (and, in fact, there is lots of these signs already, like in Indiatown or Chinatown). If fully implemented, it would be the epitome of Canada's propensity of being a cultural mosaic. It would also demonstrate how silly the whole thing can be :p

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