THE POVERTY LINE IN THE SAND

They say it's time to make poverty history. A lot of pressure is being put on western governments to help put an end to the global problems of need and desperation. And that is a noble objective, certainly.

Yet, despite these levels of poverty, the only word that is the same in every language is "taxi". The taxi is not what I consider to be the cheap option. You don't say, "I didn't have enough money for the bus so I caught a taxi home." But, no matter what language you speak, no matter how much you own, how much you earn, you understand the word "taxi". If you're currently enjoying this item in a foreign language, what you're getting is blah-blah-blah, TAXI, blah-blah and you figure "sure, I can make sense of this, I think. He's saying something about taxis.".

The word that should be the same in every language is "walk". Poor people would spend a lot less money on cabs that way. Maybe even "stand". If stand was the internationally understood word, poor people wouldn't feel under so much pressure to go out all the time, spending money they don't have on taxi rides they don't need.