Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utcsrgv.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!dave From: dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) Newsgroups: net.works Subject: Re: ICONS: Passing Fad or New Found Wisd - (nf) Message-ID: <1645@utcsrgv.UUCP> Date: Wed, 29-Jun-83 15:55:11 EDT Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.1645 Posted: Wed Jun 29 15:55:11 1983 Date-Received: Wed, 29-Jun-83 17:16:39 EDT References: <1574@ihnss.UUCP> Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto Lines: 29 A true story: When we got our new stove several months ago, I plugged it in and it started making a horrible noise, although it was clearly turned off. After several tries at figuring out what was wrong, I finally looked through the manual carefully... only to discover that it wasn't off after all, but set to self-clean. (The noise was the buzzer telling me to latch the door.) Canadian General Electric appliances now use these TOTALLY unintelligible and non-intuitive symbols on all their appliances. The symbol which I thought was "off" was an orange rectangle, where the rest of the symbols are white. But no! "Off" is indicated by a circle with a broken vertical line in it (something like the or-bar '|' on most terminals). The rest of the symbols take a fair bit of decoding. Our other CGE appliances have the same symbols, but at least there are explanations in English next to them (or, in the case of the dishwasher, just inside the door as you open it). Now, maybe there are lots of non-English/French people buying appliances in Canada, but surely your average immigrant will learn the word "OFF" soon enough. Sooner than he will guess what all the funny symbols mean, anyway. Dave Sherman Toronto (yes, I have learned to use the stove....)