Ok, I concede. Based on what was actually shown on TV, that’s the correct answer.
Boy, have ya lost your mind?!?! ‘Cuz I’ll help you find it!!!
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Question for @Cooke or other Vancouverites/Canadians:
What does a flashing green traffic light mean? Whenever I’ve asked a Canadian in Vancouver about it, they look at me like I have three heads.
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The flashing green light in Vancouver means that there is a stop sign rather than overhead red light on the intersecting road. I had not run into it in other parts of Canada except sometimes as an advanced green left turn signal. Do not assume it is an advanced green here!
Just exercise some caution going into an intersection where you have the flashing green. Also be alert as to when you are able to proceed through the stop sign on the intersecting road. A green walk sign will advise you.
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I can’t recall - do we ever find out if Ranjit has kids…?
He’s married… we even meet his wife at some point. Kids… don’t recall.
I wouldn’t count him as a main character though. But a funny side character.
Random question: “Break a leg” is a common expression in theater meaning “good luck” (because it’s bad luck to say “good luck”).
Does that carry over to opera? A guy I know from church went to Juilliard and is now trying to make a name for himself performing in various operas and he was an understudy for a performer who has now backed out of an opera in a major city… bigger than the cities where he’s been performing… kind of a big deal in his career trajectory.
Do I say “break a leg” ???
I said that to him once before and his mother (who I know a little better than him though I am between them in age) was displeased. She does not speak English as a native language, so I initially figured she wasn’t familiar with the expression and I explained it to her. But it subsequently occurred to me that maybe “break a leg” is strictly a theater thing that does not carry over to opera???
The guy himself did musical theater in high school here in the U.S. and is certainly familiar with the expression. I just didn’t know if it’s the wrong setting… sort of like doing a wave at a baseball game or something.
I think either a genuine wish of good luck or the not-serious-at-all “Break a leg!” would work.
Obligatory Blackadder vid:
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Don’t you say break a leg because if you do break a leg, you end up in a cast?
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I always thought it was because actors with smaller parts were secretly wishing for those with bigger parts to literally break their leg so the actor could get the bigger part. So then it kind of became a joke to say the quiet part out loud, but in a sort of joking almost deferential way. (If I tell you to “break a leg” I’m acknowledging that you earned a good part in the play … one that someone else wanted… if not me, then one of my friends.)
But there’s no online acknowledgment of this theory of the origin so maybe that’s just completely made up.
Separately, as I mentioned, it’s certainly bad luck to say “good luck”, so you definitely don’t do that.
Also I’ve been told that in opera it’s more common to say “toi, toi, toi”. It is still a no-no to say “good luck”.
There are apparently different versions of the origin of that as well, including whether the phrase is German or Yiddish.
Thank you for finally solving the mystery. I wondered if it had something to do with the intersecting roads. I thought maybe it was to indicate that the walk signal was active on the intersecting roads, so it was a way to tell drivers to exercise caution when making a turn, but I didn’t see crossing signals on the intersecting roads. I am not a fan of the traffic signal/stop sign combo intersections.
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It is an exceptional traffic feature we would be better without.
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that is something i would say in response to someone’s optimistic statement, to ward off bad spirits.
but not something i would do as a pre-emptive comment to ward off bad luck
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Good to know… I was not familiar with “toi, toi, toi”.
when you say it, it is as if spitting out the words
That part I picked up. But I’d be typing it. I’m not going to see him in person before the big day.
Should I “accidentally” drop my phone so I can warranty my way into a new one? (Although the way it’s still being buggy after the Verizon guy looked at it, I may not even have to do anything to it.)
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I just always assumed they were there to confuse tourists.