Moving around the world can be confusing.
FOR INSTANCE, when we lived in Hollywood FL USA, in order to get mail (sometimes) delivered to my street side mailbox, it had to include “Hollywood FL 33312-7901.”
Failing to put the full nine-digit ZIP and the missive went to Never-Neverland.
It seems the USPS, in its bureaucratic wisdom, decided my address belonged to Fort Lauderdale.
To be fair, at one point my neighborhood was in unincorporated Broward County; Hollywood annexed the land.
USPS apparently was unable to update its computers.
The County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) Office had a similar problem. The county has a new SOE so maybe things now will improve.
Dating
In the U.S., dates usually are written DD/MM/YYYY.
In Israel and, I understand, most of the rest of the world, dates are written MM/DD/YYYY.
Actually, my preferred method is DD MONTH ABBREVIATION YYYY so the first of April of 2022 will read 1 APR 2022.
Time on her hands
Most people in the U.S. deal with a 12-hour clock; a.m. and p.m.
In Israel, the clock is the 24-hour variety: 0000 to 2359
Possibly because I was in the (U.S.) military, I never had a problem with either clock.
It simply is a matter of elementary arithmetic.
1500 is 1200 (noon) plus 3 hours or 3 p.m.
Going the other way, 2200 is two hours shy of midnight; ergo 10 p.m. I confess that all my time pieces are set for 12 hours. When the Spouse asks “What time is it?” I know she wants the 12-hour clock time.
Slashing confusion
I suspect the majority of people in Israel live in apartments or condominiums, which are the same thing except apartments usually are rented while condos are owned.
Over the years I have lived in both.
In the U.S., my first address (c 1943) was 39 East 9th Street, Apartment 508.
Note “Apartment 508” followed the street address.
In Israel, my building address is Street Name Number 9. Our unit number is 7.
Unlike in the U.S., writing the address uses a slash (/) between building number and unit number, ergo Street Name 9/7.
Except that for some people, it shows up as Street Name Unit Number/Building Number.
Which explains why the gas company called the other day asking why we failed to pay the bill.
“What bill? We never GOT a bill.”
The clerk agreed to send the statement to my email where I think I saw the problem. The bill went to Building 7, Unit 9 (versus Building 9, Unit 7).
All of this could be avoided if whoever set up the addressing software would have it read
- Street Name Building Number - Apartment Number.
Abbreviations
For many years I was an honest reporter and editor in the Several States.
In the U.S., reporters were instructed to “spell it out on first reference” unless the abbreviation was so common (e.g., SCUBA, F, C, a.m., p.m.) that almost everyone knew it.
Before I could write about POTUS, I had to spell out “President Of The United States.”
Hebrew is replete with abbreviations. Worse, many of the abbreviations have several meanings. Worse yet, writers apparently have no obligation to “spell it out on first reference.” Even native Hebrew speakers (I am not) sometimes are at a loss to decipher the “code”
Show me
When I first was in Israel (mid-1970s), the Army invited me to join in its fun and games.
In order to do that, I had to undergo a simple physical.
There was a fellow in front of me who knew even less Hebrew than I. The nurse told him to take a deep breath and hold it while she operated an xray (Röntgen) machine..
He failed to understand.
She tried again, louder, and slightly angry.
After her third try, I caught the guy’s attention and showed him what she wanted him to do.
He did. She got her chest xray, and I moved with the line.
Recently I was a guest at an Israeli government hospital. A Russian nurse told me to “cough” while she performed a procedure.
I was unfamiliar with the word. (I should have known, but “forgot.”)
The woman said she only spoke Hebrew (not true, her native language was Russian), so I suggested she do as I did: mime.
Her reaction was not positive, but she did take it to heart.
The next time she asked me to do something and got a blank stare in return, she knew to mime the action.
Nothing is simple, but it surely can be interesting.
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