# Why do stop signs in Mexico say "Alto"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349 "2005-08-30T23:07:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thrillhouse15](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ad7895/32.png) [@Thrillhouse15](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thrillhouse15)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/1 "2005-08-30T23:07:31Z")
I thought “alto” meant “tall” in Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/2 "2005-08-30T23:11:09Z")
Google’s translation tool says alto = stop. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/3 "2005-08-30T23:12:22Z")
It also translates “tall” as “alto” (english to spanish). ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/4 "2005-08-30T23:13:47Z")
As in English, a word in Spanish can have more than one meaning. The “alto” that means stop is, I think, related to the English word “halt.” ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/5 "2005-08-30T23:17:29Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > The “alto” that means stop is, I think, related to the English word “halt.” I was just going to guess that, becuase there don’t seem to be any other definitions of “alto” related to this one, according to my dictionary. My hijack question would be why stop signs in some non-English-speaking countries say “stop”. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/6 "2005-08-31T00:30:55Z")
Yes, it comes from the same root as “halt”. As to why the same sigh in _Spain_ says “stop”, I can only guess one smashingly successful sales job by an early Anglo-American maker of traffic signs, faced with a surplus. ;D ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/7 "2005-08-31T03:08:14Z")
**Phineas Freak** of the [Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers](http://www.freaknet.org.uk/pages02/archive/pages/home.html), while in Mexico: > [@](#): > > Hmm, that sign says “Alto”. Luckily I have with me here this nice English-Spanish dictionary. I better stop here and look it up. > > OK, first definition is “high”. That sounds like a good idea… > > ::rolls a joint and lights it:: > > Let’s see…what else…tall? No…I don’t think that’s it… > Gee, I wonder why all these cars behind me are honking so much?? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/8 "2005-08-31T03:32:03Z")
The word for “to stop,” however, is _parar_, and a bus stop is a _parada_. _Parado/a_ can also mean “standing up.” This led to one of my friends making one of the funniest gaffes I have ever heard of when he first arrived in Panama. He told a bus load of people he had to get off because he had an erection. When approaching your stop, it is customary to call out “Parada!” so the bus driver will know to let you off. My friend instead shouted out “Tengo parada!” Unfortunately this translates as “I have a stiffie!” (a “standing one”). He says he was surprised about how quick everyone was to let him off the bus. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/9 "2005-08-31T05:24:39Z")
Some of the emergency stops on our machines at work say alto. Don’t even say stop. So I wondered what the F the emergency stop had to do with music. 😃 Obviously I don’t speak spanish. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/10 "2005-08-31T12:53:59Z")
When I was in Tijuana in '79 the stop signs said, “Coca-Cola.” ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/11 "2005-08-31T13:33:28Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Yes, it comes from the same root as “halt”. > > As to why the same sigh in _Spain_ says “stop”, I can only guess one smashingly successful sales job by an early Anglo-American maker of traffic signs, faced with a surplus. ;D Or perhaps some kind of treaty in which all the signatories, say in Europe, agreed to have a standardized traffic signs, of which one sign would be the red octagon with the word STOP in white on it. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/12 "2005-08-31T13:59:33Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > My friend instead shouted out “Tengo parada!” Unfortunately this translates as “I have a stiffie!” (a “standing one”). He says he was surprised about how quick everyone was to let him off the bus. 😃 😃 When I was in the Caribbean, I had a very good lunch prepared by a woman who held her infant while she cooked. I tried to tell her in my lousy Spanish that I liked the food and her baby was cute. She was bilingual, and she explained in excellent english that what I said was that I would enjoy eating her baby. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/13 "2005-08-31T14:15:54Z")
> [@justwannano](#): > > Some of the emergency stops on our machines at work say alto. Don’t even say stop. Hmmm… our official corporate standard is “Paro” or “Paro de Emergencia” for our E-Stops in Spanish – at least in Latin American Spanish. Maybe one day I’ll get to Valencia to see what they have there. I know that many of our Mexican engineers used to complain that the standard process language was Spanish Spanish instead of Mexican Spanish, and it drove them nuts. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/14 "2005-08-31T19:44:14Z")
Here in Colombia, stop signs say “PARE”, which translates to “STOP” in English. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/15 "2005-09-01T02:25:12Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > Here in Colombia, stop signs say “PARE”, which translates to “STOP” in English. Same here (Dominican Rep.). Also \*paro \*means strike. Just so you know 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/16 "2005-09-01T04:52:55Z")
_Paro_ as in _paro laboral_ or work stoppage. _Paro_ as in _paro cardiaco_ or heart stoppage (attack). And, _hazme un paro_ and _hazme el paro_ are slang for do me a favor or give me a hand etc… ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/17 "2005-09-01T06:47:53Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Same here (Dominican Rep.). > > Also \*paro \*means strike. Just so you know 🙂 . Yeah, there was a paro nacional in Colombia in, I think, '98 or '99. Except that, in Bogota, everybody knew about it; in Barranquilla, everyone said, “What paro?” Qu’hubo, **Robcaro**? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-stop-signs-in-mexico-say-alto/319349/18 "2005-09-02T00:52:09Z")
“pare” is also the 3rd. person singular present, or the 2nd. person familiar imperative, of “to give birth” 😃 And **Monty** , I like my story better if you don’t mind ;). After all, the other major road signs are almost all non-verbal… (I love the one with the exclamation point. I want it to mean “Prepare to be surprised!”)