When you first see a signal board with a strange inscription "Powder go away" it is difficult not to think about the meaning of this warning. Many of these thoughts lead to the creation of a variety of cartoons and even songs. But in fact, everything is pretty serious.
Such warning signs hang in all modern boiler houses, and above the doors of many shopping centers and other buildings. It is rather difficult for an uninitiated person to understand the meaning of this inscription, and its style can offend the eyes of a humanist. In fact, they are not placed in vain, and certainly not for someone to exercise their wit.
What does the inscription "Powder go away" warn about?
Such signs should be supplied not only to places of congestion of people, but first of all to those in which an automatic fire extinguishing system is installed that responds to smoke and temperature rise. If there is a threat of fire, it begins to spray not water, the use of which is not possible in all rooms, but a special powder. As you know, in order to extinguish a fire, it is enough to restrict air access to the fire source. This very powder, due to its composition, ensures that the fire is extinguished precisely by stopping the flow of air.
Naturally, getting the same agent on the skin and in the respiratory tract of a person is fraught with serious consequences for health and life, therefore, one minute before the start of powder spraying, the inscriptions "Powder go away" at the exit and "Do not enter powder" at the entrance are turned on. Seeing that such inscriptions are lit, you should immediately leave the room.
Should this inscription be considered illiterate?
Thus, the words "go away" and "do not enter" are addressed, of course, not to the powder, but to people who should not be in this room during the extinguishing of the fire. By the way, that is why they are not separated by a comma, which would seem to be correct. But the phrase still seems mysterious and incomprehensible, but to someone it is ambiguous and funny.
But since the task of this board is to very quickly and clearly inform people about the danger and suggest the procedure for action in an extreme situation, it copes with this task. Indeed, if there were a grammatically correct announcement on the doors of buildings: “Dear citizens! A fire starts in the building you are in, and to extinguish it … and so on. - that would be even more ridiculous.
Of course, you won't wish anyone to get into a situation when this inscription lights up and you have to leave urgently. But those who did happen to say that when danger appears, the meaning of the strange inscription "Powder go away" immediately becomes clear, but the craving for empty confusion instantly disappears.
