TIL a Dutch teenager who was going bungee jumping in Spain fell to her death when the instructor who had poor English said “no jump” but she interpreted it as “now jump”

3 Comments

1. This is why commands are never supposed to be given with a “no” or a “don’t”.

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2. That’s a common pattern in every instruction-like scenario where actions are not reversible and communication might be lossy.

   You tell someone “jump jump” for someone to jump down, and “jump” whenever you talk about the jumping, but not intend to actually jump.

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3. No means no in both languages though….

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