# In what parts of the world would a barred circle not be understood as meaning 'no'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125 "2013-04-19T12:23:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/21 "2013-04-20T11:13:12Z")
Missed the edit window: > [@Heracles](#): > > Conversely, I was amazed in the 1990s when traveling on U.S. Interstates at the wordy signs with “Right lane must exit” and “Merge right 500 feet” and “No passing” instead of the obvious symbols. I only realized what the “obvious symbol” was on the Canadian (maybe just Ontario) no passing sign after realizing it always happened when the lines changed. > [@Heracles](#): > > The most worrying were the “No hazmats” signs, since it took _me_ a while to understand what they were about. But it probably wouldn’t have taken you a while had it applied to you. It’s not like people just hop across the border carrying a thousand gallons of sulfuric acid. Hopefully. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/22 "2013-04-20T11:19:31Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Nørway? [Nø.](http://brannsikring.no/Portals/0/productimages/TF-01.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/23 "2013-04-20T12:16:16Z")
I thought that Ghostbusters ensured that everyone knew this symbol. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/24 "2013-04-20T23:10:14Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > ETA: And on hiking trails, it’s used for things like No Dogs; No Horses; No Camping; No Littering, etc. I would like to argue that all of these signs with icons _ought_ to have the message in words to, written in the prevailing language(s) of the place. I would like to argue that the icon alone should have no _legal_ force, whereas the words would. I argue this because, as this thread implies, it’s not clear that everybody will understand what the icon is trying to say. Case in point: I went hiking up a trail in the hills once. At the entrance to the trail was a sign with several slashed-circle icons. This is where I got the examples quoted above. One of the icons showed a silhouette of a person hiking with a walking stick and a back-pack. I took this to mean: “No back-packing” (i.e., no place ahead to camp, or campground closed ahead, or similar). So, having no intention of doing any camping, I hiked on up the trail. A little ways up the trail I met a ranger on horseback who told me to turn around and go back. Turns out, the entire trail was closed (due to high fire danger that day), and the sign actually meant No Hiking, or Trail Closed. But there was no sign there that actually, you know, said the trail was closed, and that’s not at all what I read into the sign with the icon. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/25 "2013-04-21T00:33:03Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > How do you get a license at all if you can’t read? I’ve known a few such cases up here. Some got their licenses back when there were no written exams, others just winged it. For the U.S., I just did a quick Google, and came up with: [There are 203 million people with driver licenses in the U.S.](http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/pubs/pl08021/fig4_3.cfm) (in 2006) [30 million adults (who understand English) in the U.S. are below basic reading level](http://nces.ed.gov/naal/kf_demographics.asp#2) (in 2003) I can’t find the obvious statistic of total number of adults who understand English, but I expect it to be pretty close to, or slightly under, 233 million. In 2000, the [total number of people aged 15 and up](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Age_structure) was about 245 million. Of course, reading road signs is easier than reading a novel, etc. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/26 "2013-04-21T01:14:26Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > [Nø.](http://brannsikring.no/Portals/0/productimages/TF-01.jpg) No kings named Roy? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/27 "2013-04-21T10:46:37Z")
> [@me](#): > > I’ve seen it only on traffic signs, and its meaning there is specifically “Entry Forbidden”, not a generic “no”. Where else have you seen it? > [@Senegoid](#): > > Also means, e.g., No Right Turn; No Left Turn; No U Turn; No Parking. You’re totally correct. Thanks. For some reason, I was thinking of a standalone symbol, with the bar going horizontally. In your examples (and others, like the Ghostbusters mentioned elsewhere) it is diagonal. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/28 "2013-04-21T11:18:41Z")
> [@Jman](#): > > Well, in Germany, a road sign with a circle and several diagonal lines through it means “no restrictions” (so no speed limit). But I think most Germans would still understand what you meant by the symbol. > > So, I guess it still means ‘no’ in a way, but in a way that implies a whole lot of yes. That sign just means that any prior restrictions are now cancelled (speed limit, no passing). So it says “no” to that restriction. It exists in special versions, too, for instance with a speed limit inside. That means only the speed limit is cancelled, but no passing is still under effect. The sign is also not red, which usually indicates some sort of “no” sign. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/29 "2013-04-21T18:38:11Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > I’ve seen it only on traffic signs, and its meaning there is specifically “Entry Forbidden”, not a generic “no”. Where else have you seen it? No smoking, no parking (blue background, white arrows indicating the side(s) on which parking is forbidden), no dogs, no animals, no photographs, no flash… and that’s off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125/30 "2013-04-22T13:19:52Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > How do you get a license at all if you can’t read? There are always going to be visitors to Canada who don’t speak English but have valid licenses in their home countries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-parts-of-the-world-would-a-barred-circle-not-be-understood-as-meaning-no/656125.md?page=1)