[conspire] Emergency numbers worldwide, a culture note

[Rick Moen]

I'm watching a Norwegian television series named 'Valkyrien'
(https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/aug/11/valkyrien-this-latest-scandi-noir-success-is-more-like-breaking-bad-than-borgen), 
a 2017 local Oslo production with such an intriguing mix of tropes that
BBC is currently lifting the idea and producing a remake set in London.
It has Scandi-noir elements (some courtesy of a major character who's a
paranoid doomsday prepper), medical thriller story lines, and crime drama.

In the seventh (of eight) episodes, the doomsday prepper in his
voiceover monologue muses about the interdependency-based
vulnerabilities of his society.  The audio track (in Norwegian) has him
thinking (as voiceover) about what happens if you dial a number and
nobody answers.  But the English subtitles, meanwhile, say 'The day
you'll dial 911 and nobody will answer, what will you do?'

The subtitling jarred me out of the narrative, as I happen to know the
emergency number is _not_ 911 in Norway, but rather 112 (or 110).  It
actually isn't even 911 in many of the English-speaking countries, either.
Yes, it is in the USA (and USVI and some other Caribbean islands, plus
sundry US unincorporated territories), Canada, Belize, Tonga, and
Tuvalu.  Which might seem like a lot, but notice that the list omits the
UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.  And that's just
counting countries speaking native English.[1]

The _last_ thing you want to do, if traveling, is preprogram only 911
into your mobile for arbitrary travel abroad and then count on help
arriving if you dial 911 while bleeding alongside the road.  _Most_
places in the world use something other than 911.  A worldwide survey:
https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/students-abroad/pdfs/911_ABROAD.pdf

'Valkyrien' is so far much better known in the UK (where the emergency
number is 112 or 999 as in many Commonwealth countries) than in the USA,
but I guess the subtitle author was a Yank or otherwise in the American
cultural orbit.  

Anyway, point is:  In some circumstances, being culturally provincial
and oblivious to variation and difference could endanger your life.  
Notice that even the US State Department is afflicted, viz. the page's 
title and URL:  '911 abroad'.  But it's _not_ 911 abroad; in fact,
that's the whole point.  What's local is explicitly not universal.

Thus my point.


Also: High recommedation for 'Valkyrien' -- if moody, atmospheric 
politico-medical-crime thrillers are your thing.


[1] Statistics about the estimated percentage of
English-as-first-language speakers in various  countries are somewhat
surprising:  Republic of Ireland at 93.21% is _highest_, then UK at
92.14%, NZ at 85.93%, USA at 79.0%, Australia at 70.17%, Canada at
56.94%, and all others below half.  In the ranking of percent of total 
English speakers (not necessarily first language) by country, the USA
is 13th with 95.5%.  In both Norway and the Netherlands, 90% of the
population speak fluent English, which matches my experience there.