# Things you've seen abroad you wish were adopted world wide **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094 "2021-05-28T14:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 27
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/524 "2024-02-28T03:18:58Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > How is this different from the motives of elected officials in other countries (particularly ones where citizens’ burden of tax prep is much less)? It’s not. My point, illustrated by the example taxes, is that while the public sees the role of Government to solve or prevent problems, the politicians don’t see it that way for some problems. Many many problems/issues are solved by Governments around the world every day. There are some problems (efficient tax collection, illegal immigration, pollution, the list varies by country) that politicians don’t want to solve. Those issues are too important to their re-election. We just had an extreme example in the US. Trump openly said that a bill to improve controls at the border should not be adopted simply because it reduces the impact of the issue for him. Don’t solve the issue because it is bad politics for one side. And everyone in the politics accepted that as normal. The public thinks Government and politicians always want to solve problems. Not so. Some problems are simply too useful to solve. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/525 "2024-02-28T04:32:18Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Beer vending machines like they have in Japan. But even better: an efficient, fast commuter rail system nationwide with dedicated tracks. hell I’ll take the vending machine centers they have in Japan… people actually live out of those things and its real food and other items usually and the trains would be lovely also …california Metrolink isn’t too bad but Amtrak well "you pays your money and you takes your chances " > [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > They should have those everywhere! Especially in Japan. That way we could have _Chip Truck at Budokan_ :points to the corner: bad poster go and rethink your life choices 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/526 "2024-02-28T07:38:42Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > How the hell can the Japanese build a car like that, but we can’t get them in North America?!? “Light truck” exemption on CAFE standards. (Also the cause of an extraordinary amount of emissions, a fuckton of traffic casualties and other assorted fun) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/527 "2024-03-06T09:09:02Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I much prefer periods in _all_ abbreviations, just to set apart abbreviations from non-abbreviations. But then on the other hand, I assume you don’t mind the absence of periods in acronyms, or abbreviations like FDA or FBI, right? Come to think of it, the use of abbreviations and acronyms has expanded greatly over the past fifty or sixty years. I have a fun little book from 1966 on the state of computer technology at the time¹, with each chapter addressing a different aspect. Corporate and institutional names are always spelled out in full when first mentioned in a chapter, e.g. International Business Machines, Radio Corporation of America, and Massachusetts Instirute of Technology. If an abbreviation is used later in the text, then periods were used, thus I.B.M. rather than IBM. I think the full names having mostly vanished from conversational English might be what led to the periods being dropped. When I read “Radio Corporation of America” I actually had to stop and think for a moment before I realized what it was. I’ve read and heard only RCA my entire life. 1. From Scientific American, it was the hardbound version of the September issue. This was in the era when a double issue focusing on one topic appeared every September. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/528 "2024-03-06T15:46:01Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Come to think of it, the use of abbreviations and acronyms has expanded greatly over the past fifty or sixty years. And some of what used to be considered abbreviations are now considered full words. When I first got a computer, in 2004, it came with “applications”. Now they’re just “apps”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/529 "2024-03-06T15:51:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > And some of what used to be considered abbreviations are now considered full words. When I first got a computer, in 2004, it came with “applications”. Now they’re just “apps”. For that matter, how many people still remember that “bus” is short for “omnibus”? Or that “mob” is short for “mobile vulgus”? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/530 "2024-03-06T17:12:34Z")
Good point! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/531 "2024-03-08T08:30:04Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > how many people still remember that “bus” is short for “omnibus”? _What is this that roareth thus?_ _Can it be a Motor Bus?_ _Yes, the smell and hideous hum_ _Indicat Motorem Bum!_ > **[Odd poem: ‘Motor Bus’, macaronic poem by A. D. Godley](https://formalverse.com/2021/04/28/odd-poem-motor-bus-macaronic-poem-by-a-d-godley/)** > > What is this that roareth thus? Can it be a Motor Bus? Yes, the smell and hideous hum Indicat Motorem Bum! Implet in the Corn and High Terror me Motoris Bi: Bo Motori clamitabo Ne Motore caedar a B… ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/532 "2024-03-08T17:58:42Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > For that matter, how many people still remember that “bus” is short for “omnibus”? Flanders and Swann? ‘[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yHrpPRYgYM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yHrpPRYgYM)’ ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/533 "2024-03-09T00:07:32Z")
Ah, _yatai_. Wonderful food stands all based on a cart that can be folded up and moved away. The best yakisoba I ever had was from one of these when I was just a kid. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/534 "2024-03-09T15:34:31Z")
One thing I love about NOLA are the Lucky Dog carts. Being able to buy a Lucky Dog at 2 am as you stumble through the French Quarter is heaven. We actually christened one of our pontoon boats The Lucky Dog, since we bought the boat primarily as a big dog toy. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/535 "2024-03-10T13:05:05Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > One thing I love about NOLA are the Lucky Dog carts. Ha. Never heard of them. But figured that ‘Lucky Dog’ was a beer cart. Not so. I do like myself a good hot dog though. Chicago style. Drag it through the garden. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/536 "2024-03-10T13:17:49Z")
Lucky Dogs are absolute shit. Cheap, overpriced footlong with lots of toppings. The thing is they are heavenly at 2 am when you are stumbling drunk. One year my gf asked me to go out and get her a Lucky Dog. I left our hotel, brought back her food, but she was out cold. The following morning she saw the Luck Dog sitting on the dresser. It was shriveled and dried out. Looked like it was discovered on an anthropology dig. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/537 "2024-03-10T20:23:10Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Lucky Dogs are absolute shit. Cheap, overpriced footlong with lots of toppings. The thing is they are heavenly at 2 am when you are stumbling drunk. Makes sense for NOLA. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/538 "2024-03-21T19:28:29Z")
I hear Paradise wieners in NOLA are terrific. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/539 "2024-04-02T16:54:23Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > > > In Vancouver, it’s flashing green when the perpendicular road only has stop signs. So flashing green is “you have right of way, but check for cross traffic just in case.” > > Thanks for that. I’m always confused when I drive to Vancouver. But never bothered to look it up. In Montreal, a flashing green means that oncoming traffic, and cross traffic all have reds, and that it’s safe to make a left turn (sometimes there will be a flashing green left-facing arrow - allowing left turns also for oncoming traffic - they will have the same flashing arrow as well. The flashing gets your attention - rather than honks from the guy behind you if a non-flashing arrow came on and you didn’t see it quickly). ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094/540 "2024-04-02T17:02:32Z")
In Ontario, we used to have a flashing green that was an “advanced green”, it meant pretty much the same thing. You have a green light, and no one else did. I haven’t seen one in many years, though, they got switched out for dedicated arrows. One advantage of the advanced green was that one light could be programmed on the fly to direct traffic differently based on time of day, and day of the week, so you could adjust traffic patterns in real-time. Arrows are probably more useful overall, but require a lot more infrastructure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youve-seen-abroad-you-wish-were-adopted-world-wide/943094.md?page=26)