Baggage Claim Emergencies

At the airport in Venice, my sister and I took the "people mover" train to the baggage claim and waited in an exhausted slump for our luggage to arrive. We had been awake for over twenty-four hours, been through four different airports and dealt with countless grumpy airport staff of all nationalities. (Side note: what is with that?)
We stared into the depths of the conveyer belt, willing it to move with every bit of brain power we still had left, but as all we know, baggage claim is not a speedy process. Our sanity was fading fast.
It was a relief, then, when I found another comical translation error.
You know the button on the baggage claim to press in case of emergencies? The one that immediately halts the conveyer belt? Except this button didn't say "press in case of emergency." It said...

Yup. Emergency push button.

Not instructions like "push button in emergency." Not a description like "button for emergencies."

A noun. A label, if you will. It is an emergency push button. Not just any regular button either. A push button. An emergency push button. 

I started to chuckle, more a sound of exhausted disbelief than anything. My sister looked at me and I pointed at the sign and then she was laughing too. It was the funniest thing we'd seen all day.

I admit that there was some sleep deprivation involved here. This doesn't seem quite as hysterical as it did then. But the entire picture it creates is. Imagine two young American girls in the Venice, Italy airport, amidst a crowd of weary travelers in various stages of grumpiness. And we were cracking up at a little sign.

And in that moment, I'd never been more grateful for my native tongue.

Because welcome to the English language.