Signs

Highway exits in Canada are generally numbered based on the distance (in km) from the beginning of the highway. But what about before Canada went metric? Did all the exits have to be renumbered?

As it turns out, my assumption that distance-based exit numbering is not as widespread or as recent as I thought.

  • Ontario and Québec have exit numbering systems that predate metrication, but only barely, so the switch wasn’t too hard.
  • Newfoundland and Nova Scotia have sequential exit numbers, not distance-based ones.
  • Alberta didn’t post exit numbers at all until 2004!
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A sign reads 'Do not feed the wildlife or birds'

The implication of this sign is that some of the birds in the park are not considered wildlife. Are pigeons wildlife?

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A sign posted by the Vancouver Parks Board at the entrance to a park

If you see a coyote in Vancouver, the officially recommended course of action is to yell “Go away coyote”.

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The general particulars chart of the vessel Queen of Surrey

“General particulars” is an excellent phrase that deserves to catch on more widely than its current context of legally-mandated notices on boats.

(Boats are required by international law to have a wheelhouse poster listing their “general particulars”, i.e., a list of statistics, properties, and other bits of information necessary to get a basic view of the vessel.)

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