Numbers vs Letters

Even thought Gary Althen marks American affection to formalisms, it is not that ubiquitous as it might seem. In fact, there are plenty of cases when letters replace numbers and graphics -- and when it differs from what people do in Europe. Or, at least, my vision of Europe.

First an foremost, street signs. If you can read English and common sense isn't your foe, you can drive most roads pretty safely. "Stop", "Stop here on red", "Lane narrows", "No passing", "Opposing traffic does not stop", "Pedestrian xing" - all this information is expressed in words in the US. It appears to me that European trend to replace these signs with non-text pictures is based upon the desire of language-independent unification. Anyhow, nobody gives a shit across the Atlantic.

Another small point where Americans use words instead of numbers is naming paper sheets. Compare "letter" and "A4", "legal" and "A3", etc. Probably European formats are about limiting language ambiguity again.

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When I started writing this up, I was confident that there's a number of examples. And now I kinda run out of them.

Alright, I can finish it later.. which probably means never.