

Ask HN: Worst examples of ambiguity ? - jacquesm

A recurring theme in industrial accidents and related issues is the ambiguity of 'English'. English not being a programming language it is very easy to make sentences that can mean different things dependent on the mindset of the reader.<p>Here is an example:<p>"When going around after an aborted landing: take off power"<p>During the landing of an airliner the captain decided to abort and go around, the key phrase, straight from the manual caused the co-pilot to reduce power on all four engines causing the airplane to stall and drop out of the sky.<p>English is full of opportunities for such mishaps, lots of jokes are based around them.<p>So, my question to you is do you have any examples of mishaps caused by ambiguity in English ?
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yannis
Nothing comes to mind on written words, however, last year our HR phoned our
sub-continent recruiting agent to arrange 50 tilers for a construction project
in the Gulf. Three months later they all arrived, but none of them could lay a
single tile. He sent _taylors_.:)

On Air traffic Control see
([http://www.scribd.com/doc/19647051/Miscommunications-in-
Air-...](http://www.scribd.com/doc/19647051/Miscommunications-in-Air-Traffic-
Control))

I quote a classic!

 _Turkish Airlines said yesterday it had sacked two pilots who had a cockpit
punch-up over control-tower instructions on a flight between Bangkok and
Istanbul. "Are you deaf? He's is telling something and you are doing something
completely different", one reportedly told the other. A junior pilot completed
the flight._ (Reuters, 7th May 1997)

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phernandez
"Ambiguity, either you have it or you don't."

