Wherever I go in Europe, I seem to see signs outside lifts that say “Do not use the lift in case of fire”. Inevitably, one of the British people standing waiting for the lift to arrive then says “We shouldn’t use this lift, because it might catch fire”. Knowing smiles are exchanged, meaning “Foreigners can’t get English quite right, can they?”
This is another example of the ‘same language false friends’ that I wrote about in another post. In US English, there is nothing wrong with the sentence, where “in case” means “if”, so the whole sentence means “Do not use the lift if there is a fire”. In British English, however, “in case” means “against the possibility”: “Do not use the lift because there may be a fire”.
The British English warning should read “In the event of fire, do not use the lift”.
March 19, 2009 at 1:26 am
I grew up in Britain for my first 22 years and I don’t see anything wrong (or non-British) about “Do not use the lift in case of fire”, except that “in case of fire do not use the lift” would be slightly more elegant.
(Of course it’s possible that I’ve been corrupted by living in the US for the last 12 years, but I don’t think so in this case).
March 19, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Well, I had to search long and hard on Google to find an instance of “Do not in case of ” (almost all co-locations of “do not” and “in case of” have the “in case of” first, usually followed by a comma), but finally I found one : “Do not use in case of rectal bleeding, as this may indicate serious disease.”
My interpretation of this (as a native speaker of ) is that the author is saying “If rectal bleeding is occurring, do not use [this substance]”, rather than “Do not use [this substance] in case it leads to rectal bleeding”.
Thus I tend to agree with “ds” that the “Do not use the lift in case of fire” example is not as open to mis-interpretation by speakers as Graham’s experiences in Europe have led him to believe.
March 19, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Sorry, I used a number of angle-brackets in the previous message; both they and their contents have disappeared. It was meant to read (with dollars replacing angle brackets) :
Well, I had to search long and hard on Google to find an instance of “Do not $x$ in case of $y$” (almost all co-locations of “do not” and “in case of” have the “in case of” first, usually followed by a comma), but finally I found one : “Do not use in case of rectal bleeding, as this may indicate serious disease.”
My interpretation of this (as a native speaker of $Br.E$) is that the author is saying “If rectal bleeding is occurring, do not use [this substance]“, rather than “Do not use [this substance] in case it leads to rectal bleeding”.
Thus I tend to agree with “ds” that the “Do not use the lift in case of fire” example is not as open to mis-interpretation by $Br.E$ speakers as Graham’s experiences in Europe have led him to believe.
March 21, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I find this post very hard to swallow (and the fact that this is a UK blog makes me all the more confused). Is “in case of fire” not as common in Britain as in mainland Europe?
I’ve always understood it to be true wherever English is the dominant language that “in case” usually (in ordinary, everyday language) means “against the possibility” but also (in highly formal language, i.e. officialese) means “if”. I’d like to see a reference for the claim that there’s a British/American difference going on here (I’m Australian, BTW, so more or less neutral).
Did the knowing smiles really mean, “foreigners can’t get English quite right”, or did they in fact mean, “highly formal language can be funny sometimes”?
A memorable example of the phrase “in case of fire” (actually, an ambiguous one in context now that I think about it) appears near the end of the Goodies episode “Rome Antics“. The episode can be found on Youtube in three installments (links below), and the relevant sign appears around 8:46 in the third installment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdEiZRua0Z4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NP3OSYWCE8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFrTZQ-njmE
March 22, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Just remember to push the button in case of fire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUJFaDK9Gfk
April 1, 2009 at 9:32 pm
I think it’s not so much “in case of fire” that is open to misinterpretation, but “in case there’s a fire”, which very definitely means one thing in AmE and another thing in BrE.
BrE: “Don’t try and stroke the dog, in case he bites you.” “It’s better not to smoke, in case it kills you.” “Don’t run, in case you fall over.”
But not: “Don’t run, in case of falling over.”