Today, coming home on the Tsukuba Express, I noticed a sign for the emergency door release.
Tsukuba Express emergency exit sign
Reading this sign, I was struck by the disporportionate amount of Japanese relative to English.
So, what does the sign say?
The English is straightforward: “Emergency use only / By pulling the handle the door can be opened manually.”
The Japanese however is much more extensive: “非常用ドアコック・非常の場合はこの中のハンドルを手前に引けばドアは手であけられます。みだりに車外へ出ると危険です。もし出るときはほかの電車やおりる場所にもご注意下さい。なお係員の指示があった場合にはそれに従って下さい。”
One difference is the Japanese word for this particular device, ドアコック, which unfortunately is not transliterated into English, Door Cock. Perhaps this is a valid technical term, but I’m guessing that they just didn’t want the English speakers snickering too much during an emergency exit.
The rest of the Japanese text offers more specific guidance than the English: “Emergency Door Cock / In the case of an emergency, if the handle contained herein is pulled inward, the door can be opened manually. Exiting the train unnecessarily is dangerous. When exiting, please be careful of other trains and the location where you exit. Also, if an official gives instructions, please follow them.”
Of course, this is all just cover-your-ass safety jargon. During an emergency, no one will say, “Okay guys, let’s just do what the tiny sign says and we’ll all be fine!” So, not translating the full details seems reasonable.
Or maybe this is part of a sinister plot, and the Tsukaba Express’s company wants people who can’t read Japanese to be able open the door without having full knowledge of the safety protocol; then, the poor illiterates can get run down by another train after exiting!
Or maybe they put the Japanese into Google Translate, saw the results, and said, “Fuck it, there’s plenty of English.”
Google version: An emergency door cock by pulling the emergency door handle in front to be opened by hand in this. It is dangerous to go outside a car without good reason. Please note that if you go to other places by train or Oriru. In the case of staff, please follow the instructions on it.
sneaky
Well, I don’t know about all the Japanese, but I do know that the word “cock” is not exclusive to Japanese. For example, a fuel cock is a hand-operated valve on motorcycles that stops the flow of gasoline to the carburetor. On some models, it also opens the valve to the reserve tank. It originates from the word “stopcock”, which itself is probably of either German or Dutch origin.
Good point. Yeah, stopcocks are used in a lot of chemistry glassware and are probably analogous to the fuel cock. But, cock still seems a little odd in this case, since the mechanism seems to be a handle/latch rather than a valve. I think you may be right the katakana word comes from a different language. That usually explains most odd katakana words.