Some people are only now finding out what the H on a yellow sign attached to a lamppost means – and they cannot believe the answer.
The signs, as some people incorrectly believe, do not indicate helicopter landing sites on Britain’s suburbans streets.
Christ almighty. They are to advise the fire service where hydrants are. I’ve known this since childhood.
While some people insisted that it was obvious what the H stood for, or that they had been taught it at school, for some it was a lightbulb moment.
One TikTok commenter said: ‘I never knew. Everyday is a school day thank you.’
But one said they ‘thought it was a helicopter landing pad’. This TikTok user was not alone with two other saying they ‘thought it was H for helicopters’.
Yup, they walk among us. I wonder how they manage to feed themselves.
Of breathe
Or spell…
😉
Sometimes when you get treatment from the NHS, it comes along with a leaflet that explains about your treatment, stuff that you need to do etc. A problem has come to light regarding said leaflets, that is that the average reading age of UK adults is eleven, in some areas it is as low as seven. The leaflets are having to be re-written using shorter sentences and easier words.
Actually, to be fair, I did have to look up the meaning of the word abutment when I got the info regarding my dental implant.
Attached to lamposts?
I always remember these as small concrete formed up stands with a big H on them next to a hatch in the pavement which led to a suitable connection into the local water main.
I recall them being attached to telegraph poles near where I lived as a child.
Supermarket scales for weighing fruit and veg used to have the various producs arranged on-screen alphabetically.
They had to change that to a tree of menus because significant numbers of customers don’t know the order of the alphabet.
And these people probably have the vote.
I can remember reading somewhere that a significant majority of adults think that the Sun orbits the Earth. I didn’t believe it and did a little survey of my own around my workplace and realised that it was true. The six to fourteen year olds in my junior karate class were better informed, almost all of them had the correct answer.
On the subject of the fire hydrants, I’m pretty sure that it would have been my mother who told me what they were when I was around five years old. My brothers and I would ask questions all the time and my parents would answer to the best of their ability.
Here’s a related story from the Not Always Right website:
https://notalwaysright.com/your-next-stop-the-gaslight-zone/290869/
There is a rich mine of stories of stupidity there. I have to remind myself when reading it that this isn’t a representative sample of humanity and that there is selection bias at work.
Perhaps because kids are ferried to school in cars and are looking at their phones all the time they don’t see their surroundings. Therefore,
don’t ask the correct questions.
The H signs were screwed, strapped, fixed to any vertical post.
Now they are fixed above the reach of casual vandals.
The number told the firemen (I know) the distance to the fire hydrant. Feet or yards, I forget.
30 years ago, a motorcycle workshop manual taught you how to adjust valve clearances and change oil. Now it just tells you not to drink the contents of the battery.
The bikes also came with toolkits. These days you are lucky if you get a screwdriver. Unless it’s a Royal Enfield, in which case, you have entered a time portal to a previous age.
“…a time portal to a previous age.”
The MZ was a bit like that. I know that you don’t like them, but I found it to be a well designed and well made machine. Various aspects of it were dated, even for the late seventies, but it had a very comprehensive tool kit including Puncture repair kit and a pump under the seat. The owners manual was also comprehensive and included things like how to adjust the squish band to account for different octane rated petrol. Also how to clear out a blocked jet in the carb by using “A wick from mother’s broom”.
Another gem from NAR.
Customer: “Where are the chopsticks?!”
Me: “Those are on aisle twenty, ma’am.”
Customer: “Do you expect me to go get them?”
I thought, “Of course I do; that’s how grocery stores work.”
Me: *Politely* I can’t leave my self-scan machines.”
She left, muttering about how her feet hurt and how unhelpful I was. She came back a few minutes later just screaming at me. I mean, she was really letting me have it.
Customer: “Why did you send me to the d*** ethnic aisle when my feet hurt and you knew that you were sending me to the wrong place?!”
I was pretty confused because there should be chopsticks in that aisle.
Me: “It’s a few minutes before closing, so maybe we are out of chopsticks?”
She dismissed me rudely, still screaming that she was going to report me to customer service. Customer service sent a price checker with her to find chopsticks. He came back with her and she was holding a pack of TOOTHPICKS.
I knew this when I was a child. H = Hydrant. I thought this was common knowledge.
That ‘H’ means hologram – as in Rimmer in the tv show Red Dwarf. These H markers show where the hologram of Rimmer may possibly be buried.