I am such an idiot when it comes to doors. I know what “PULL” means, but can I process the word and walk at the same time? I’m about as likely to be pushing helplessly on the door as I am to negotiate the thing sucessfully.

Imagine my surprise when I had no similar trouble with the push/pull task when walking through the Italian department. Someone had put up a large sign on the door saying “TIRAR”, and while I don’t speak Italian, the word for Spanish ‘pull’ is the same. And I tirar’d the door without any problem. For some reason, seeing the word ‘tirar’ just makes me think of that action.

Could it be that English “push” and “pull” are orthographically similar, and are therefore prone to confusion?

Or is it just me?