The 1, 2, 3 of Rim Language

Grand Canyon
32 02.41 N 0

As we walked the canyon rim with the other tourists, we heard over and over three very human themes that must repeat here thousands of times every day.

1) Mothers with young children say,"Hold on to my hand. "

2) Mothers with older children say,"Wait! Stop! Don't go any closer!"

3) Middle aged men say to their wives, "OK just one more step back."

It is also very international on the rim. I estimate that only 50% of the people were speaking English. I heard Spanish, German, Swedish, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Yiddish, and many other languages I couldn't identify. But now I think I learned how to recognize a few phrases in each of those languages: "Hold my hand. Wait. Stop. Don't go any closer. OK, just take one more step back. "