Tao of Alba

TAO OF ALBA

Tuesday, June 01, 2004 3:46 PM

To all the drivers out there, I have one question. Which way do you go when the MP you're asking for directions says to turn left yet his hand is pointing right?

I had to ask twice where to turn. "Manong, kanan ba o kaliwa?"

"Kaliwa, ma'am." Points to the right.

Okay, maybe that guy needs to repeat kindergarten... or maybe he has that learning inertia thing that Volkswagen Phaeton ad was talking about. Whatever.

It was certainly the joke of the morning until she somehow explained it: the MP was pointing to his left, not mine.

Ahhh... in that case, the next time I should ask, I should tell the person to make the reference from my perspective. But then that's stupid (altogether irrelevant) because isn't it automatically assumed that the perspective taken should that be of the ask-er than the ask-ee? Especially since we're talking about directions, it should be the perspective of the driver. (The more I try to explain that MP's behavior, the more I think he is a special child with special needs).

My God. No wonder life is complicated. We can't even figure out which way is left or right.

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