Imagine trying to follow street directions like these:
"Take Smith Avenue downtown and turn onto Murphy Street. Keep going until you get to the corner where the Gulf gas station used to be. Park and then walk to the grey building on the left."
I must ask the following. Where do I find Smith Avenue, in which direction to I have to "take" it to get to Murphy Street and do I make a left turn or a right turn when I get there? If the Gulf gas station isn't there any more, how do I know what to look for now? Finally, how am I supposed to know which way I should be facing when I get out of my car to know which way is "left" is when I start walking?
Useless instructions like these can confound me no end and yet now and then, I am confronted by such, not just from one person in particular, but from lots of different folks at different times who somehow seem quite certain that I must surely know what they really mean. I usually don't.
Surprisingly perhaps, there are still a few persons of my personal acquaintance and age who would actually understand a street directions reference to "where the Elmhurst gas tanks used to be". Those tanks were these two huge structures that once stood adjacent to the Long island Expressway in Queens in New York City. Constructed in 1910, they were highly conspicuous landmarks that were demolished many years ago. Thus, for the more recently arrived among us, any modern day reference to "the gas tanks" would be of no earthly use.
Now just for comparison, check out this little beauty of a useless instruction in line 1:
I am told in Line 1 that after I click on the "gear" icon, I must select "Settings" from the drop down menu. Unfortunately, that particular word does not appear in the menu. Did it go the way of the gas tanks?
Do you know the way to San Jose?
Comments