# stop signs in france **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 1999, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448 "1999-12-18T20:28:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 1999, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/1 "1999-12-18T20:28:00Z")
i spent three weeks in france, in '97 and noticed something i found a little peculiar, their stop signs said ‘stop’ not ‘arrête.’ i live in canada, and some of our stop signs say both, stop and arrête… and that makes sense with quebec and all, but why just ‘stop’ in france? * * * “human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 1999, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/2 "1999-12-18T21:26:00Z")
I suppose the French have figured that there are enough drivers from other countries driving through that their traffic signs should be standardized, at least the most important ones (which a stop sign is). Canada has a far more precarious bilingual situation. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 1999, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/3 "1999-12-18T21:56:00Z")
i would understand that if they only had the ‘stop’ stop signs in the busier parts of france, but they had them everywhere. including the smallest towns that no tourist would be likely to visit… and also, why in english? of all the tourists i ran into while i was there, the majority of them spoke no english at all. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 1999, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/4 "1999-12-18T23:03:00Z")
They got 'em wholesale? Maybe with the opening of the Chunnel, they thought they’d have lots of silly English-type persons driving around the countryside wondering what “arrete” means. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 1999, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/5 "1999-12-18T23:09:00Z")
Didn’t notice this myself while in France last year, but I didn’t drive, so what do I know? But I do have a WAG. By putting the signs in English, the French can simultaneously confuse the invading Germans and assist the liberating Americans. \< g \> * * * Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 1999, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/6 "1999-12-18T23:22:00Z")
i probably wouldn’t have noticed it either if the family i was staying with didn’t say ‘stop’ at every sign they came to. 🙂 but after i saw it once, i saw it everywhere… * * * “human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 1999, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/7 "1999-12-18T23:24:00Z")
i probably wouldn’t have noticed it either if the family i was staying with didn’t say ‘stop’ at every sign they came to. 🙂 but after i saw it once, i saw it everywhere… * * * “human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 1999, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/8 "1999-12-18T23:44:00Z")
the roo and friends were so arrested by the sight that they stopped twice! Hah! i’m one to talk,just ask Nick. Mrs mr john says it was the same way in japan. Wrer the signs red and hexagonal too? My son says he saw round stop signs in some parts of europe. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/9 "1999-12-19T00:11:00Z")
It would seem to me that there are certain things when driving, such as stop signs and traffic lights, which have to be standardized for the benefit of drivers in other countries. I don’t mean tourists, I mean truckers and other distance-travelers. Think of how horrible it would be to come into a new country and suddenly not understand any of the signs! So, signs in other countries are either standardized with the rest of the world (such as stop signs) or are made in such a way that it is clear to anyone with a basic understanding of number and symbols what they have to do in order not to violate traffic law. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/10 "1999-12-19T00:12:00Z")
well, red octagon’s? yes, they all were. 🙂 * * * “human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/11 "1999-12-19T00:17:00Z")
i agree about a standardized sign, but that’s what i thought the red octagon was all about. but i guess not if mr. john’s son saw circle ones… * * * “human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/12 "1999-12-19T00:17:00Z")
It _is_ interesting in light of the French paranoia about the English language. What are stop signs like in Germany, Italy, Spain, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/13 "1999-12-19T00:23:00Z")
All of the countries in the former European Communtiy (now EU with a few new members) agreed to adopt standardized traffic signs quite some time ago. Imagine driving from Ohio into Indiana and all the traffic signs are different. From where we lived while assigned in Germany, in about 4-6 hours, we could be in Czech, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, or the Netherlands. As to why the signs in Quebec are bilingual, while those in France are not, I suspect that’s due to stubborness - I understand language dominance is a thorny issue there. * * * Sue from El Paso Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/14 "1999-12-19T00:33:00Z")
i just found this link that has some pictures of stop signs from around the world. they’re all the standardized shape and colour, but the languages do vary. and since they’re all the red octagon we all know and love, it still doesn’t make any sense to me. it’s just, why when we all know what the sign means don’t they just write it in french? the link is [http://www.geog.okstate.edu/users/lightfoot/stop/stop.htm](http://www.geog.okstate.edu/users/lightfoot/stop/stop.htm) ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/15 "1999-12-19T01:01:00Z")
sorry about that, there was a hex on me. It was over ten years ago when he was over there and he was in some Eastern European countries, when there was still a wall. maybe the round signs were on the other side of the wall and also had concentric circles on them. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/16 "1999-12-19T08:47:00Z")
That site that mega cited also contains this sight: [http://www.geog.okstate.edu/users/lightfoot/stop/stop14.htm](http://www.geog.okstate.edu/users/lightfoot/stop/stop14.htm) Which says > [@](#): > > While the Spanish “PARE” or “ALTO” are used on stop signs in Spanish-speaking countries once colonized by Spain, “STOP” is used in the mother country of Spain (the result of European Union rules specifying English as the language of road signs in order to standardize road travel across EU countries). So there you have it ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/17 "1999-12-19T08:59:00Z")
I’m wondering what mr john was drinking while driving when he ever saw a hexagonal stop sign anyhow? I’ve never seen one. I seem to recall seeing yellow hexagonal stop signs years ago, I think in the back woods of Oregon or Mexico or somewhere. I’ve seen unofficial round red stop signs at private intersections. Ray (never stops) ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/18 "1999-12-19T09:01:00Z")
Now you have **me** doing it! I mean, of course, yellow **octagonal** stop signs. Ray (outta shape) ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/19 "1999-12-19T09:04:00Z")
i have seen a stop sign that was so faded (from the sun perhaps?) what it was yellowish. maybe you saw something similar. * * * _what is essential is invisible to the eye -the fox_ ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 1999, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448/20 "1999-12-19T20:43:00Z")
I’m originally from Quebec. For many years, both STOP and ARRET were printed and cohabited without too much fuss on the same octagonal sign. Time passing and (some) mentalities evolving in a particular direction, there were many instances (especially in major cities like Montreal and Quebec City) where the word STOP was spray painted to give a more unilingual feel to the environment… That being said, it boggles the mind why the red octagonal sign without any wording whatsoever has not been universally adopted decades ago; there are several other international signs, the meaning of which is self-explanatory (although I recognize that this practice is much more prevalent parts other than North America - and more specifically Canada and the U.S.). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-signs-in-france/5448.md?page=2)