Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Ye......WTF?!?

Another story for another post, and with any luck that will follow, but I was in Oriental, NC last night for New Years. This involves taking the Minnesott Beach ferry across the Neuse River. While we were waiting for the return ferry I went into the rest station where, in both the men's and women's restrooms, one could find the following....


LoA, "Minnesott Beach Ferry, Men's Restroom #1" (31 December 2007)

The sign only appeared in Spanish...


LoA, "Minnesott Beach Ferry, Men's Restroom #2" (31 Dec 2007)

leading one to one of two conclusions. First, English speakers weren't welcome in this bathroom. Prima Facie, unlikely. Second, it was meant to be insulting to Spanish speakers, who apparently needed to be told how to use toilet paper, when English speakers don't.

In any case one cannot help but be surprised to find, in a very conservative area of the state of NC, an area where one would not be surpised to hear someone express English-only sentiments, an area with a history of racism, using Spanish only signs...unless it too is an expression of racism. That it is found in the State Ferry Station is insulting to all of us who call NC home.


LoA, "Minnesott Beach Ferry House" (31 Dec 2007)

-LoA

5 comments:

Aisha said...

that *is* disturbing... wow...

Lawrence of Arabia said...

yes that was pretty much my reaction too.

happy new year.
LoA.

Anonymous said...

i have another theory. if I understood the sign correctly, it tells users to dispose of TP in the Toilet, Not in the Trash Can...

In many developing countries the pipes are not designed to accept TP, so TP must be disposed of in the trashbin.

So, perhaps, this area has a regular occupancy of those from 3rd world Spanish speaking countries who, in their extreme care, dispose of TP in the bin as opposed to the Toilet so that the Toilet will not get clogged.

FYI, many Old City portions of Beijing will have venues with similar signs (in English) telling all the English speaking customers to dispose of TP in the Bin, Not the Toilet.

Lawrence of Arabia said...

its a nice theory. i hope you are correct. it would make me feel much better.

best wishes,
LoA.

Jeff said...

I know very, very little Spanish, but that hilarious sign apparently says, "Very Important: Please put the toilet paper in the toilet, not in the garbage can."

Living most of my life in Miami, many of the people I used to live around would not wash their hands after using the bathroom. And I have seen garbage cans with used toilet paper in them before, which is totally disgusting.