When there is a fire alarm in my building, the concierge announces "There is an alarm condition on the 3rd floor."
That's what his panel says, I'm sure, but that's not what's relevant to residents. A more user-friendly way to explain it to us would be "A smoke detector has gone off" or "The fire alarm has been pulled." Or if you don't know, even just "The fire alarm has gone off on the 3rd floor" would be clear and idiomatic. All we want to know at this point is whether it's near us.
Then once the fire department gets here and makes sure everything's fine, he announces "The alarm has been reset to normal condition."
Again, I'm sure that's what his panel says. But that's not what's relevant to residents. A more user-friendly announcement would be "There is no emergency, the alarm is over, you can all return to your apartments."
3 comments:
I am full of these kinds of corrections!
A sign on a bus shelter near me says "This shelter is no longer in service". I believe what is meant is "This is no longer a bus stop".
Wow, that is amazingly useless! Really it should say something like "This bus now stops one block south."
Who even thinks of a bus shelter as being in service?
A slight improvement on your sign might be "This is not a bus stop. The 26 bus stops at Street A and Street B."
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