One-Way-Street

One day a Frenchman went to New York on business. He did not know a word of English. When he arrived in New York, he took a taxi to a hotel. The day was Sunday, so the Frenchman decided to leave his suitcase at the hotel and went out into the street. The street was narrow and not very long. He walked along the street and then stopped, for he remembered that he did not know the name of the street, and he decided to write it down. He looked at the house near the corner of the street and saw the words "one-way-street" on the wall. He thought that must be the name of the street. He took his notebook out of his pocket and wrote the words "one-way-street" in it. "Now I know the name of the street where the hotel is," he thought, "and I shall be able to get back to it safely." He walked for a long time in the city, looking at everything. When he felt tired and wanted to get back to his hotel, he took the notebook out of his pocket and showed the words to a young man. The young man read the words in the Frenchman's notebook and looked at the Frenchman. "What does he want?" he thought. The young man did not understand what the Frenchman wanted. Then the Frenchman decided to ask someone else. He stopped an old man and showed him the words in his notebook. When the old man read the words "one-way-street", he thought, "What does the man want?" He could not understand what he wanted either. The old man did not know a word of French, and the Frenchman did not know a word of English. The Frenchman did not understand the old man. The old man did not understand the Frenchman and the Frenchman did not know that "one-way-street" is not the name of a street.