February 18, 2013 Geographic Rabies
Rabies is how I categorize things that should have been clear to me but weren’t until they basically walked up and punched me in the face. You can read more about my usage of the term here.
Today, it’s all about geography. I love maps a lot and spent a lot of time in my youth looking at maps and drawing maps and imagining maps. One of the ones I looked at most frequently was of Spain and yet it wasn’t until late last year that I was told, in an offhand manner, that “Mediterranean” was Latin for middle+land which is precisely where that body of water lies in relation to the known world at the time. Rabies!
Learning this reminded me of the moment a while ago when I was staring off into space waiting for the train here in Paris and I realized that the RATP logo (the Parisian metro system) represented the Seine cutting across the city. Rabies!
It’s so frustrating knowing that even if I studied for ten hours a day for the rest of my life, I’d still come across stuff that gives me rabies. There’s just too much to know! It’s so unfair! I want all the knowledge!!
- 4 comments
- Posted under observations
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Suzanne et Pierre
said
If that can make you feel better…I had never noticed the Seine in the RATP logo. So there is a “rabies” for me!!!
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le cul en rows
said
That does make me feel better, though I’m still disappointed in myself a little.
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elizabeth
said
See, in the US at least, no one expects a transit authority to be logical in the slightest–especially regarding design–so you’d be forgiven for not realizing this sooner.
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le cul en rows
said
Metro systems I’ve known in the US have horrible logos/acronyms so I think you’re right there, but American logos tend to be more obvious like the arrow in FedEx, etc.