Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Fasten seat belt...

While travelling by air, you'd surely have seen a notice on the back of the seat just in front of you, which says, "Fasten seat belt while seated". I haven't been able to understand what exactly this instruction is supposed to mean.

Does the airline want to tell you when exactly you ought to fasten your seat belt?

I mean, can a passenger fasten his seat belt while doing anything but being seated? While standing or walking, for example?

To my mind, the English is all wrong. What the airlines want you to do is to 'keep your seat belt fastened as long as you remain seated'. If that be their actual intention, why can't they say that in propah' English?