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Search Challenge (10/21/15): What are these signs and symbols?

Dan Russell • October 21, 2015
 SearchReSearch
Republished with permission from SearchReSearch
Search Challenge (10/21/15): What are these signs and symbols? Dan Russell

Cape Breton...

... is a beautiful place on the northeastern end of Nova Scotia. I was visiting there last week, driving around enjoying the local music and the fall colors.



But as usual, there were things there that puzzled me--can you help me understand what I was seeing and hearing?

1. I kept seeing telephone poles that look like this. Why? What's up with this design? What does it signify? (And... for the curious folks, why does this make me think of Louisiana?)

2. More than once I heard a local say "..I'm going down to the north..." This struck me as funny because I thought the convention was that north was up. What could a Cape Bretoner mean by this phrase, "I'm going down to the north..."?
3. I visited a few small fishing villages and noticed that they have a particular kind of fishing boat. I wondered if this was particular to Cape Breton, or if it's more broadly distributed. So... what's a typical Cape Breton fishing boat design?

These Challenges can be a little tricky, so I'm really curious about what you do to answer these Challenges. Be sure to let us know HOW you solved these!

Search on!

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About the Author

Dan RussellDan Russell

I study the way people search and research. I guess that makes me an anthropologist of search. While I work at Google, my blog and G+ posts reflects my own thoughts and not those of my employer. I am FIA's Future-ist in Residence. More »

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