I was talking with some of the squints (I love that word, squints, thanks to "Bones") at work last week about GPS's. I don't think they work all that well in Israel because over here no one knows the names or numbers of the roads. Here, people identify where they are going according to the names of intersections. Now I have travelled over a lot of the Western world and this is the only place I have been to that no matter who you ask for directions, they will tell you "go 10 Ks down this road when you get to X junction take a left and then when you get to Y junction take a right". Should you wish to know the number of a highway, you are sure to just get those blank stares and an Israeli shrug (a wordless way of ensuring you understand its you thats the idiot).
No one at all knows names of highways. To get to Eilat you take a right at Tzomet Haravah. To get to work you tell people to come into Herzliya at Tzomet Hasirah and then take the first left and then the first right. So a GPS is useless unless it tells you what's the name of the junction you are approaching. Yes all these junctions have names, and no one thinks thats strange at all.
Wet varnish
1 day ago
1 comment:
Dear Petero,
I think its way more complicated than that. It all depends on how new a person is in Israel, or how old the person is who you are talking to. For example, Someone who made aliya last year, will be very confused with you calling (hwy #4) Kvish Gehah. (I think its #4) And what about the intersections that dont even make sense anymore, like tzomet ha'pil. the Pil Restaurant is no more. And what about the Hamashbir parking lot in raanana? they tore down hamashbir years ago, but we still all call that spot hamashbir. and the parking lot will always be called the hamashbir parking lot.
So who is confused over here?????
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