"Permit to Travel"

[elfs]

When I use the light rail to get into Seattle, I have to make two stops: at the beginning, where I'm issued an e-ticket for the train, and at the end, where I redeem the ticket with a tap-out and have my Metro account debited for the amount of travel I used. If you don't redeem, you're dinged the maximum amount, $2.50. Given that I've never traveled less than the full distance, I don't see much point, but I still tap out at the end.

The ticket is called a "Permit to Travel." Am I the only one who finds that terminology just a little creepy?

Comments

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

[fake Russian accent]Your papers, please.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

that's really creepy.

[shunra.livejournal.com]

That is so weird as to sound non-idiomatic. What country did the engineers who built/designed the light rail come from?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

I would hope from Japan. The translations can get … interesting. One post-war Tokyo map had "translated" the label for the sewage facility into, "Dirty Water Punishment Area." o_O

[shunra.livejournal.com]

Looking it up via the Wikipedia, it seems that the project was indeed multinational (WHY?) and may indeed suffer cross-linguistic contamination.

Of course, this could also be a matter of imitating British practice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permit_to_travel

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

Of course, this could also be a matter of imitating British practice.

Let me think about that … Nope. Still sounds creepy to me. ;)

[lovingboth]

The latter was my thought. PTT = 'you've not bought a Ticket yet, but you're saying you are going to'.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

Agreed. Very creepy.

Especially since there's a perfectly good word in the English language for that already: ticket.


I'm the first one to say, "Hey, shift happens; languages change." However, the particular changes I see occurring now … they're double plus ungood, if you get mah drift.

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

About as disturbing as this story about the TSA setting up a checkpoint to pull rail passengers off into a roped-off screening area after getting off a train; the video shows them patting down and wanding children. Clearly imminent threats to security that have to be rigorously screened to make sure they're not cleverly-disguised Arab suicide bombers.

And what are they going to do if you refuse to allow their search? Prevent you from getting off the train? Keep you in the station?