Wednesday, December 09, 2009

I guess there's only one Little Prince...

The one Antoine de Saint-Exupery (on a tangent, does ANYBODY know how to pronounce his name? I've never tried it aloud, myself) wrote about.

On the other hand, there are uncounted numbers of Little Princesses, going by the annoying-as-hell stickers that advertise the fact thus: "Little Princess In Car" - usually in glittery puke-inducing pink, pasted on the rear windscreen.

What's WITH those things, anyway? Why do people only want to announce the presence of girl children? Why have I never, even once, seen a "Little Prince In Car" sticker? Why the discrimination?

And while on the topic of stickers, why even have a notice saying "Baby in car" or "Little person in car"? I doubt that it would make any difference to inconsiderate drivers as to who exactly is in the car ahead of them. They're hardly likely to go "ooh, there's a little person in that car, I'd better stick to the road rules". (On the other hand, someone whose irritation level has shot off the charts might just consider such be-stickered cars as special targets.) It doesnt seem right that immature (in the physical sense) human beings alone should be worthy of due care and attention while driving. ALL humans deserve that sort of consideration.

Anyway, if special consideration is the idea behind these notices, why aren't there any that say "Old person in car"? Or wait - perhaps that should be "Old person driving car".

And then again, that would probably be obvious enough from the doddering driving. No stickers required.

4 comments:

Anu said...

I beleive it is "Twan de setegzyperi" - according to my son's French teacher...

brinda said...

"On the other hand, someone whose irritation level has shot off the charts might just consider such be-stickered cars as special targets."
Sigh! That was for me...

Kamini said...

So many stickers on cars annoy me. The worst are those that proclaim, "Proud Parent of an Honor Roll student at....." So smug and boastful!

Sunita Mohan said...

I think the best deterent would be "Traffic Court Judge". Very official-looking and pompous (but naturally!)
As for AS-E, it starts off like a sneeze that's in the making but which quickly subsides into a gargle or explodes into an expletive, depending on who's pronouncing it. A Frenchman would probably make it sing but when I try, I rush the last couple of syllables hoping no one will notice how I invariably seem to be mangling it.
Ah well! maybe in some future birth I may just get it right.